A Parasites Parasite
by Munchkin Pumpkin
Summary: What happens when Venom knocks Eddie up during a reproductive cycle? How will Eddie ever cope? My first for this fandom! Mostly movie universe compliant, but with comic verse info thrown in.
1. Day 1/2

A week had past since their triumph over Riot, both Eddie and Venom were recuperating after almost dying a handful of times, over which, the two of them had completely bonded. After Venom almost died, Eddie realised that over the short period of time that they'd known each other, Venom made him feel complete. Although, Venom made their bond sound more like a romance than the symbiotic dependence it really was.

Things were good, not too good, but definitely an improvement. Eddie wasn't getting back together with Anne despite his everlasting love for her, he'd agreed to put these feelings on the back burn so that she could live happily with Dan. Instead, Eddie lived with Venom in his small apartment while saving up money from his new reporter gig, to rent somewhere else. For now he was quite content with his situation.

Venom had been acting weird as of late, weirder than before anyway. Eddie had assumed that Venom was merely becoming domesticated, enjoying the human way of life, experiencing so much all at once. He was constantly hungry, to the point where he'd steal Eddie's food and inhabit his body to go on mid-night food binges. Again, Eddie paid the symbiote no attention, he owed Venom a lot and rather enjoyed the company, so he didn't really care about the odd behaviour.

Like coming down with the flu, Eddie entered into a permanent state of fatigue. It'd been all too convenient that Venom's sketchy ways subdued. If he didn't know any better, he'd panic fearing he'd caught some intergalactic virus from the unruly parasite.

"Eddie, we're hungry." Venom pestered, like a needy cat.

"What do you want to eat?" Eddie asked, searching through the freezer. "Man…not a lot here." Everything he kept stocked was unappetising all of a sudden. Not that it was all too shocking, there had to be a limit on how long a person could consume only tater-tots. "Maybe we should head to the store?"

"Will the butchers be open?" Eddie shook his head with annoyance at Venom's request. He wasn't sure exactly how many times that he'd told his symbiote that shops were generally closed this late at night, but he wasn't prepared to remind him of the fact day-in day-out.

"No. It's nine o'clock." Eddie had come to a compromise with Venom. So long as the symbiote didn't try and eat anybody or rip any heads off, Eddie would buy whatever raw meat Venom preferred. It didn't come close to the taste of human flesh but it meant that Eddie could live free from being hunted by the police. He was tired, deathly tired and had been for a few days. "Want Chinese food again?" Venom was becoming accustomed to the American way of life and appeared to be enjoying it so far. Chinese had been a rather tasty experience and now Venom had a kick for the stuff.

"You're gaming a lot of weight, Eddie." Venom spoke bluntly.

"No I'm not. Why would you say that?" Eddie scoffed, "hold up, you're the one always asking me for all this junk, If anything, you're making me fat." He scolded, the only time he'd asked for something quick and abundantly unhealthy, Venom comes out with this nonsense. "So just shut up, alright?" Eddie retaliated. Venom's mental instability was seeping into his own blood stream, driving him unexplainably crazy.

"Your mood swings are volatile." Bold and brave of him to mention.

"And what, you parasite!" He flinched, ready for Venom to teach him a lesson by throwing him into the stove or yanking him to the floor, "Fuck sake you asshole. I'm so-" Eddie straightened himself up. "That's what I thought."

"I won't hurt you Eddie." He couldn't quite understand why, but his human wasn't acting with full capacity. Eddie had been sleeping during the day and often found himself skipping meals. Eddie had reassured him that the sluggish nature and bouts of nausea were common symptoms of 'coming down with something' or working too much.

"How kind of you. Now quiet, otherwise I won't get any kung pow prawns." Eddie smirked as Venom's laughter faded into a rare blissful silence. He knew the way to Venom's heart and it just so happened to be food, an easy tool for manipulation. Although, he'd been thankful for the sudden drop in Venom's appetite, he was getting fat – not that he'd give Venom the satisfaction.

Eddie spent close to forty dollars on food. Now that he was ordering for two, it was completely normal to spend extortionate amounts. The two became agitated waiting for the delivery, it came just in time. Or else, both he and Venom were about to go on a rampage. With no clean plates, the two ate straight from the containers. Eddie shovelled his food while Venom quite literally inhaled anything and everything – savouring nothing.

"Ugh, that's it. I'm done." Eddie put down the last of his Chinese, worried that finishing the remaining noodles would make him vomit from being so stuffed. He rubbed his stomach soothingly and stretched out to allow the food to travel easier. Eddie paused mid-stretch, the nausea flooded his senses and he became overwhelmed by the need to push back everything he'd just eaten. "No, no no-no-no!" He groaned as he leaped from the sofa. He barely made it to the bathroom before collapsing onto the floor and emptying his stomach. "Bad. Shrimp." He laboured between dry heaving.

"Humans are weak." Venom mocked bitterly, knowing that Eddie had left food sitting on the table that rightfully belonged to him.

"Screw you." He breathed, before returning to the bowl, still chucking up noodles and mushy prawns. He'd been far too hungry and over eaten which had no doubt hurt his stomach and resulted in an angry case of indigestion.

Venom truly cared for Eddie, that was easily considered to be the biggest and most dangerous weakness to have. Which is why Venom couldn't sit idly by. There had to be something that could be done to ease the suffering, which is why Venom went on an exploratory mission. What was found left the Symbiote shocked and dumbfounded. How this went overlooked was beyond reason, "We're not sick, Eddie." Venom began.

"Yeah? This sure feels like it." He glared, spitting out leftover bile and sour saliva.

"Eddie, we're pregnant." Venom blurted, not yet having mastered the art of subtlety.

"You're getting better, I almost laughed at that one." Eddie turned his head, to see Venom looking back at him, hanging from his shoulder. "You can do better than that." He shook his head disapprovingly.

"That was not an attempt at humour. Eddie, I am certain that we're pregnant." Venom hadn't brought up the idea before, because the possibility was inconceivable. The Life Foundation had removed most – apparently not all of the seeds meaning that reproducing wasn't previously on the table. Sure enough, the trace DNA that every host is gifted with had given Eddie the ability to become pregnant with Venom's last seed. Really, Venom should have guessed, the mini-heat that'd ended a few days ago should have been telling.

"I know that you're new to this planet so I'll cut you some slack. I'm a man, men can't have babies." Eddie flushed the chain and sat back against the bathroom wall, content for now that his body had settled but he hardly trusted the false calm.

"You are the host to my child – or our child. We're going to have a baby, Eddie. I can see it growing." Eddie remained silent, his mind pondering over the absurd possibility. "Eddie?"

"You didn't think to ask me first before you knocked me up?" A hand lunged for Venom's shape, ready to throttle it's neck. Venom manipulated it's being to avoid Eddie's rage fuelled vengeance.

"This may be my last spawn. It must survive." Venom's children died one-by one at the hands of the medical team at the Life Foundation. If any had survived, it would be an astounding miracle.

"So you think it'd be a good idea to use me?" Eddie felt victimised. He trusted Venom, and had no reason to resent him after the ordeal they'd been through together. "It'll be me looking after a baby, I'll be changing diapers and feeding it." So many things were running through his mind. One of which being his inability to be at all responsible, he couldn't even remember to feed the damn cat without Anne begging him to every few hours.

"Eddie! That is enough!" Venom growled.

"What have you done?" He stroked his midsection gingerly over his sweatshirt. Disgusted by the idea of what could very well be living under his skin.

"Eddie, we will give birth regardless of your insecurities." Venom knew how things worked on his world; when the time came and the individual had taken in enough nutrients, they'd split in two or lay an egg which should hatch into an independent being. From what could be seen growing inside Eddie, and from what had learnt from this planet, it would likely be that this child would be nothing like the 'children' birthed on his planet.

"Here you go with this 'we', I'll be giving birth to a baby – God knows how. Perfect. Just when I thought life was turning around." It was true, since Venom had come into his life he'd begun to move past his earlier set backs and even gotten back into work.

"This is bigger than us, we have created an entirely new species." A human hybrid, capable of unknown power. Venom could see the life growing within and it was magnificent already, growing quickly but perfectly like his own kind.

"How did you manage this?" Not only was this whole situation gravely a violation of his autonomy but also physically impossible. Even if cross speciation was possible, surely the basics of humanity would rule that men still can't bare children. Surely no alien influence could make that happen. So Eddie was rather perplexed.

"We have fused DNA. You now possess my ability to bare children and together we have made life." Venom explained, through their unbreakable bond, life has been created. No matter what was said, Venom struggled to convince Eddie of this beauty.

"This is fucked up. So what, is it gonna come out lookin like you or me?" He threw himself down onto the sofa with anguish. If Venom were to turn around and say 'haha I got you' now would be a perfect time, before he took the initiative and jumped out of the window – not that it'd do anything. Thinking about it clearly, he wouldn't be able to do anything about this.

"It is human Eddie, just fused with my abilities. My spawn is growing it's own host within us." Eddie sneered contemptuously.

"Will it eat people?" If he had to teach Venom that eating people was wrong, then the child of Venom would undeniably be as childish and stubborn. Even if it took after himself and his own traits prevailed, the kid would ultimately be screwed – a confused ball of weird. Venom's silence was unsettling. "Then how do you know that it's safe?" Death by pregnancy; death during labour; eaten by his own child. So many possibilities, all of which made Eddie entirely paranoid. Venom was not at all helpful, failing to dispel any qualms.

"No harm will ever come to us." That was a promise. All the while bound by their bond, Venom would protect Eddie Brock with everything it took. Eddie would not die from having their baby, even if things took a turn for the worse. Eddie was untouchable by death so long as Venom lived.

"Great. Fantastic….should I tell Dan? Anne?" The only two who knew of Venom would surely be in for another gigantic shock, of which would unavoidably pull them back into unwanted trouble.

"If you would like. So long as Dan does not hurt us or the baby." The two could only be trusted to a limited extent. Anne would definitely rid Eddie of any dangers to life without any hesitation.

"He's a good guy, he wouldn't do anything on purpose." Eddie's hand reached for his mouth, feeling his insides burn and mouth water. He waited to see if the uncomfortable sensation would pass before springing into action.

"Perhaps we should leave in the morning, when you are feeling better." Venom retreated back into his comfort zone, fearing his presence was not very welcome anymore.

Bile was all that was left to throw up, but still his body brought it up anyway, "So this is morning sickness, hu?" Eddie pitted himself.

"Yes, Eddie. It is just one of many symptoms we will experience." Not that he knew much about human pregnancies, he assumed that all species must share some common experiences. It would probably be of worth prompting Eddie to do some research – when he wasn't still so furious.

"Enough with the WE, I don't see you with your head down a toilet." He moaned.

"We are in this together." Venom repeated ardently.

"Leave me alone!" The symbiote daren't speak another word.

As Venom slowly fed on Eddie's humanity, the symbiote absorbed some of Eddie's best qualities. Some of those included guilt and sympathy, whilst this wasn't something that was avoidable, Venom felt bad about bringing this upon his host. It'd only been a few days but Venom was incredibly attached to Eddie and couldn't imagine a life on Earth without him. In some ways Venom enjoyed the idea of having a child of which will bond them further. Venom knew that with Eddie's DNA and influence, this spawn would change the world. It was selfish and wildly unpredictable but Venom would try and protect Eddie throughout the pregnancy and ultimately forever after.


	2. Day 3

Eddie hadn't gotten much sleep that night, he was up every few hours to throw up. Then midway through the early hours of the morning he became plagued with cold sweats that had him shivering and sweating through his night clothes. At six he called it quits on the sleep and just took a shower to cool off.

"You're starting to show, Eddie." Venom piped up after a lengthy silence.

"Don't remind me." Venom wasn't lying, already Eddie had lost his toned physic to replace it with a slight bulge around the waist. The only peace of mind that the information gave him was that he wouldn't be sick for much longer. If the devil spawn was growing at such a rate, this whole ordeal would be over thankfully soon.

"Are we going to see Dr Dan?" Eddie noticed Venom's small voice domineering today. Perhaps it was a small expression of a guilty conscience – if Venom had such a thing.

"Yeah, we are." He'd already communicated the need for Anne and Dan to meet them at the hospital for some privacy. Both were exponentially freaked out and from the sounds of things, would arrive with crucifixes and holy water as a last resort.

"What will he do?"

"Probably take a look inside, see if the baby is okay." His mind had settled now and the idea of having a child had sunk in. The prospect still had him petrified but now, he'd accepted the reality of the situation. He was pregnant, no denying it. His figure had filled out and he felt positively green.

"I can tell you that Eddie." Venom desperately wanted to be needed, to rectify the mistakes that have been made.

"Have you ever been around a human baby?" Eddie fired back.

"No."

Eddie rolled his eyes, "Exactly. Dan will be able to see if it's normal, you know, growing okay." He couldn't believed what he was saying, whether their alien hybrid was 'normal' and he knew for sure that the child was growing, feeling first hand the growth spurts that made him bloated.

"Are we going to eat first?" Venom asked, looking out for Eddie's welfare.

"Me? No frigging way. If you behave I'll buy you some chocolate." Eddie promised, trying to lighten Venom's burden. Upon reflection, Venom had no idea that this was possible, and so didn't really deserve the shade that was thrown at him. Venom wasn't an entirely emotional being so Eddie couldn't expect Venom to understand such complex human emotions.

"Chocolate!"

Eddie scoffed joyfully, "Yeah, chocolate." Eddie threw on a clean hoodie and a questionably fresh pair of jeans. He cursed aloud when the top button refused to pull closed. Leaving the button open, he made sure that the jumper covered his indecency. "Now come on, let's go."

Eddie took Venom on foot to the hospital which was only a few blocks away. He couldn't risk being sick on public transport or Venom acting out when a stranger looks at them funny. There was still a very thin line between good guy and bad guy, now more than ever, given Venom's nature to be very over protective. He could picture Venom ripping somebody's arm straight from their body for simply bumping into one an other.

They'd stopped only once on the way to the hospital and it had been gratefully brief. The fresh air had worked worlds of good at reducing the nausea. When they arrived at the hospital Eddie followed the text message instructions and located the floor and suite, it'd been a wonder how they'd found the place. Of course it was a secluded location, far away from patients and more importantly, Dan's office. The hospital could not afford another incident like the last, things are costly to replace.

Eddie took a peep through the glass panel in the door to check whether he'd driven himself down to the right place. He grimaced, catching a glimpse of Anne and Dan being lovey-dovey. In reality Dan had been trying to console Anne who was borderline hysterical with anxiety.

"Eddie, what was so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" Anne broke away from Dan, although slightly hesitant about approaching Eddie, she gave him a hug nonetheless.

"Maybe Venom should explain? Your move, bud." Venom appeared like a devil on Eddie's shoulder. Dan backed away, still greatly frightened by the organism that shared Eddie's body. Anne had spent a little time alone as Venom's host and so wasn't quite as alarmed.

"We're going to have a baby." The announcement was a complete mismatch. What would otherwise be pleasant news for any other group of people, was needlessly menacing coming from Venom's mouth full of jagged fangs.

"Eddie?" Anne turned to Eddie for further clarification.

"I'm pregnant. Don't ask me how." He shook his head and raised his hands defensively, he couldn't offer a better explanation. He didn't understand much of what was going on even when it was himself plunked in the middle.

"I'm gonna! Eddie, how is that possible?" Even by the standards of the reasonable person, Eddie being pregnant was unfathomable.

"DNA evolution." Venom retaliated. The human race were an inferior intelligence but the need to explain things was growing tedious. Despite Anne being one of Venom's favourite people, it would have been a wise idea to have stopped Eddie from coming out today given Anne's far from excited reaction.

"Your DNA and anatomy can't just change overnight. This is absurd." Dan interrupted.

If Venom was physically cable of rolling his eyes, he'd do so. Dan was proving to be one of Venom's least favourite persons. "Well, Dr Dan I'm not from your planet. Eddie is the perfect host, we are a compatible match so it is only right that we become one." Venom had known from the very beginning that their bond was almost like a marriage.

"So, why is Eddie pregnant? That's what I'm concerned about." Dan added.

"Eddie can bare children, because I can. During my reproductive cycle, a spawn attached itself to us and is now growing it's own compatible host." There was no easier way to put this. As he and Eddie had achieved true 'symbiosis', they'd bonded down to a molecular level. Their connection was a perfect example of harmony which gave life to new life.

"Ah, I see..." Anne nodded her head.

"This makes sense to you?!" Dan yelled. Having been brought into this madness against his own volition. At the first sign of hostility Venom reabsorbed back into Eddie, at Eddie's request. Venom wasn't making the situation any better and Anne looked like she needed something to gun for.

"Of course not! For fuck's sake, Dan." She exclaimed.

"This is completely unprecedented." Dan took a moment to pause, considering the uncharted waters they were about to cross. It could be potentially dangerous, difficult and deadly. With no way to know what to expect, they were in the dark.

"Will you help me or not?" Eddie needed help. Sure, Venom could protect against harm and advise on the basic nature of symbiote reproduction but Venom had no clue about human gestation. It wasn't really the quest for knowledge that had him so desperate, but rather the support of his only two friends.

"I can try... I'm not an obstetrician." Dan sighed.

"You're all I've got." At least they could figure things out together and in a safe environment. It was hard to imagine going through this alone. "I was kinda hoping that you could use that machine thing-y to have a look inside?"

"I can definitely help you with that! It does operate using sound frequency, at much lower volume than the MRI." Dan was excited to be returning back to something he understood, "What are we expecting to see? Is it human?"

"V says it is." Eddie had no reason not to believe that. In fact, he was relying on the notion that the child is human. A human baby he could handle.

"I suppose we should probably find out?" Dan had borrowed a machine from a friend upstairs. The friend was a little sceptical but came to the assumption that he must be doing some pro-bono work – despite hospital policy. Whatever the fat-cats upstairs didn't know, would be better for everyone.

"Take your jumper off for me." Both Dan and Anne watched Eddie struggle with his jumper. As he pulled it over his head, the t-shirt he had on underneath rose with it. The two exchanged looks of shock and concern at the sight of Eddie's small bump. "Just lie down and relax." Dan gulped.

"I'll keep this quick, bud." Eddie reassured the voice in his head, who had kept anxiously quiet. Eddie gave a silent nod for Dan to turn on the machine. Admitted, the sound waves carried a deal of pain but nowhere close to the crippling agony of the MRI machine. It was somewhat bearable, but Venom wasn't going to express his discomfort for Eddie's sake.

"Are you okay? Do you want to stop?" Dan asked, scared at the sight of Eddie's veins bulging and pulsating.

"Carry on, Eddie. Labour will be far more excruciating." Venom bravely persisted.

"Keep going, we're okay." He breathed, clenching a fist by his side.

"Okay..." Dan hesitated before continuing, wondering if it would be in their best interests to stop but then the image on the screen became clear and it captured Dan's attention, "Well, there it is. It looks human, which is a good thing I guess."

"Thank God!" Anne gasped gratefully.

"For what it's worth, it looks healthy...and growing. Like really fast...is it supposed to be doing this?" Dan almost dropped the wand at the sight of the exponential growth. Before his eyes, the foetus he'd been looking at grew, by a couple of centimetres in the space of a few seconds. "By the look of things, you're already at least sixteen weeks along."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Eddie hurried Dan along, not sure if he could withstand much more of this.

"Good, strong heart beat..." Dan let the sound of the heart beat ring loud around the room, "honestly, if this baby wasn't half alien and growing inside a man, I'd say things were perfect." Dan turned off the machine and gave Eddie some paper towels to clean himself up.

"Congratulations, mum." Anne laughed.

"You think this is funny?" Eddie pulled down his jumper and sat up on the bed.

"Maybe this is a good thing? I mean, I've never seen you happier than with Venom, except well..." She trailed off, not wanting to bring back the past, "you deserve a chance at happiness."

"With this parasite?" He mocked, shaking his head at the idea, despite knowing that Anne's words did have elements of truth within them.

"Watch your mouth, Eddie. Or we might just have to eat somebody." Venom threatened playfully, regaining lost strength after such a strenuous trial.

"That would be a breach of our agreement." He warned.

"Brains are tastier than chocolate." Eddie replied with a sarcastic 'uh-hu'. "I was bluffing, do not take away the chocolate." Eddie smiled, shaking his head, particularly disappointed in how weak-willed Venom had become. He took partial responsibility for that.

To bring the conversations back to a serious perspective, "What does Venom say about the birth?" Dan enquired.

"Your bodily anatomy will most likely change to accommodate the birth."

"So I'll grow a fucking vagina for a day? To kill myself pushing out your kid." Eddie already knew that it'd be him to ultimately give birth, regardless of this "we" nonsense that Venom spouted. After all, he could feel the baby beneath his skin, feeding on his essence to grow. Seeing it on the monitor before only reaffirmed his inclinations.

"Do not be scared." Eddie was not scared, he was quite royally pissed off. Not only was he unequivocally unsurprised by Venom's sudden revelation – having already expected the monster to put him through such agony – but to hear that he'd sprout temporary lady bits for the first time, in front of Anne no less, was humiliating.

"You're so fucking encouraging. I'm glad you knocked me up." Eddie was deservedly cranky.

"When the time comes, it's probably a good idea to bring you here. I'm a surgeon, if need be I'll perform an emergency c-section." Eddie would love to guarantee that he would run straight to the hospital for a caesarean as it seemed the best course of action. He was not content with the idea of pushing anything from any holes – natural or otherwise. Given his magnetism towards bad luck, this obviously will not turn out in his favour.

"Thanks Dan. Thank you." The group dispelled with the pleasantries, Venom and Eddie split to soothe the symbiote's hunger. Although, the whole trip had given him much needed relief – Eddie now knew that the pregnancy was as normal as it gets.

"Food, Eddie. We need food. What are we having? We could go to McDonalds or get some fried chicken." Not that Eddie thought the symbiote deserved such luxuries.

"You want this baby to be born fat?" Not that chowing down to a salad sounded particularly pleasant. He figured that a bigger baby will be harder to carry and harder to get out. He shuddered just thinking about it.

"I came to understand that in your culture, fat babies are cute." Venom had observed from reality TV programs and from the social media apps that Eddie was apparently glued to.

"They're also harder to give birth to."

"Then perhaps we should eat what the baby wants." Venom laughed maniacally. A long shot, destined to fail, pressing every inch of luck.

"You know that it's not going to happen. I'll not be eating arms or eyeballs – or anything else like that." He'd never forgotten the taste. Having let Venom eat that gangster in the convenience store was a huge mistake. It would appear that his offspring was destined to crave the taste. Which put him in a difficult position, he too was edging for blood.

"Why not? You're craving the taste." Venom attempted to seduce Eddie using a low wispy voice. If Eddie was a man of very little will-power Venom's attempts at manipulation might have been successful.

"I will not eat people!" His morals would dictate his desires, no matter how strong they were.

"Pussy." Venom lingered.

"I don't care what you call me." He was not going to give into peer pressure. If he did on this occasion then it'd only set a poor example to Venom, who would use this against him relentlessly.

"Just one bad guy, Eddie. Its for the baby." Eddie knew that Venom was edging him on for purely selfish reasons.

"You want us to go chasing bad guys?" Surely Venom would not want him to be out seeking trouble in his current condition, not that he physically had the energy to perch on rooftops and skulk like Batman.

"If we stand here for long enough, I'm sure a meal will fall from the sky. Do it, Eddie."

Never mind whether or not that was true, given their current location, "You're a bad influence, you know that. We can go to the butchers." Eddie gave in compromise.

"They do not serve human. This child wants human." Eddie hated to admit that Venom was right. Their child craved human flesh. Eddie already knew that there was no substitute in place for this primal urge. If the child didn't calm down soon then he too would go insane.

"He can't have any. When he's grown up he can't just eat people." Eddie could only imagine his child getting into all sorts of trouble for nibbling other kid's fingers off or attempting to eat the class pet. This sort of behaviour wasn't going to start at home and most certainly not on his side. He couldn't quite attest to what kind of parent Venom would be.

"Not even as a treat?"

"No! All I want to do is go home. I'm hungry and tired, and still nauseous. My skin is tight and so-so sore..." Eddie protested. He was in no mood to keep arguing with somebody so stubborn especially since his own body was causing such discomfort. With the rate the child was growing, Eddie's skin was beginning to become sore trying to stretch so quickly.

"Fine." Eddie was such a kill-joy.

"Thank you. I'll cook whatever you want when we get back."

"Can you try to not burn anything this time?"

"You're one step away from starving to death, you know that?" Eddie was without a doubt the first person to ever take pride in domesticating a foreign life form. All those TV cartoons had nothing on what he'd accomplished.

Eddie had barely made it out of the bathroom the entire time being back, "Ugh, why did you do this to me?" He groaned, cheek glued to the toilet seat, awaiting the next surge to explode from his nose.

But of course he had to feed Venom. Like a pestering cat, gave him barely enough time between each wave to catch his breath. Eddie had somehow managed to cook Venom a tray full of fish sticks, and not burn them. It'd been almost painful watching Venom eat, the smell of cooked fish had sent his stomach hurtling up his throat.

"At east you're not hungry anymore." Eddie rinsed his face with cold water and blotted it dry, satisfied that his nausea would remain underwhelming.

"Is this what all human pregnancies are like?"

"And I'm supposed to know?" Eddie said, searching through the kitchen cupboards. His nausea had completely disappeared and replacing it was a peckish sensation.

"You've devoured that chocolate bar pretty well." Venom mentioned sourly, disappointed with the fact that Eddie hadn't shared – despite owing him some chocolate.

Eddie scrupled the wrapper and threw it across the room, falling a few inches before the bin. "Yeah, so what? I need the sugar. Why don't you just shut up and we'll watch some TV?" Eddie flicked through the channels he had before sighing heavily, leaving the station playing NCIS re-runs. It would only be background noise anyway.

He'd slept the day away, absent-mindedly while wrapped up with a throw on the sofa. Before being startled awake by a knock on the door.

"Who's at the door?"

"I don't know, that's the point of doors you know, they-" Eddie opened the door, surprised to see who awaited on the other side. "Anne, hey. What are you doing here? Aren't you meant to be at work or somethin?"

"It's half six, I left work an hour ago." Eddie looked around the apartment, confused. With the curtains drawn and the lights on, he hadn't noticed that the sun had set. He clocked out at around twelve, some six hours ago.

"Wow, its that late..." He muttered, scratching his head.

"I brought you a few things from the store, but really I just wanted to check up on you." Anne moved her way past the door to dump the bags she's carried from the car. She took a look around and cringed slightly. Eddie had let his apartment go to Shit; with plates piled high in the sink, bin overflowing and an obvious layer of dust covered everything – even the shrivelled plants on the window ledge.

"Oh that's kind of you, really. But you didn't have to." Eddie caught wind of Anne's disappointment. He'd really been meaning to clean, but between working and becoming grossly pregnant, he didn't have much time.

"Shut up Eddie." Anne raised a brow, knowing that Eddie was not quite into the swing of this whole "independent adult" thing.

"What is all this?" Eddie began rooting through one of the bags closest to him. He crinkled his nose at the contents: nappies, milk bottles and wet wipes.

"Well, I didn't know what to buy an alien baby. I have to think that all babies will need diapers and bottles? I didn't get any formula because I didn't know whether it'd drink milk or blood..." Anne began to rationalise the notion of becoming an Auntie, even if it was to a monster-child. She'd help Eddie as much as she possibly could, to raise the child and prey that'd be enough for it to turn out right.

"What? That's not happening."

"We would have to feed the child, Eddie."

"Let's have this conversation when it hatches." He mocked.

"Okay then," She paused before continuing to let the arguing subside. "I also brought some clothes and a few toys." Anne pulled out a blue dinosaur comforter and rubbed it across her cheek.

"I don't even know if it's going to be a kid for long. With the way this pregnancy is going, it might not need any of this." Given the turnaround, it was quite possible that the child would grow up as quickly as it arrived, needing new shoes every two weeks. Eddie could only begin to imagine how costly its going to be to raise a child.

"Everything poops." Anne shrugged. She was positively sure that Eddie wouldn't escape nappy duty as easily as he'd hoped.

"That's great." With a slight 'phobia' of poop, he wondered how well he'd cope with the task, "thanks anyway."

"How are you feeling? Are you eating okay?" Eddie had looked better, she observed. Looking pale and exhausted, made Anne worry about Eddie's wellbeing.

"Haven't been eating all that much, morning sickness, you know? Think it's passing now though." Eddie felt the shift away from the first trimester and into his second, along with it came a beautiful relief. He wasn't feeling quite as nauseous or as tired, instead he had a little more energy. A complete contrast to his earlier emotions.

"That's good to hear."

"You and Dan doing alright, you two good?" Not that he was all too interested in their relationship, and really still quite jealous of Doctor Dan.

"We're doing fine. I don't think that Dan is coping well with all of the weird going on." That was perfectly understandable. In fact it would be the normal response to the twists and turns forced down his road. Anne was just as anxious about everything but served as Eddie's rock, without her calm and collected appearance Eddie would surely have a heart attack.

"M'Sorry." He whispered hoarsely.

"That's not your fault." Anne jumped onto the change in Eddie's demeanour. At first she didn't recognise Eddie's sadness as it came out almost instantly as a unpredicted flow of tears. "Eddie, don't-" She knew better than to finish that sentence. Instead she pulled him in for a hug. "It's okay."

"Why are you crying?" Venom antagonised, laughing at Eddie's embarrassing emotional outburst.

"I swear to God, as soon as this is over, I'm going to take a trip to the airport and sit on the runway and watch you scream." Eddie threatened. As if he wasn't feeling embarrassed enough, he didn't need Venom rubbing it in.

"Quit being a pussy." Venom retaliated.

"Excuse me? Maybe you'd like to come at me with a bit more respect seeing as I'm carrying your spawn, you parasite." Venom shrieked loud enough to have Eddie reaching out to muffle the sound to his ears. "Holy shit, you psycho."

"What's he saying?"

"Lover's spat." Whilst Venom hadn't been particularly supportive, the effort made – the rat shattering screech- had in fact drawn out the last of the emotional surge. For that, he was quite thankful.

"I accept your apology." Came Venom's cheeky response.

"You accept my- never mind." Eddie wiped away the last of the tears that left his cheeks moderately soggy. He chuckled lightly.

"You two really are like a married couple." All she saw them do was bicker at each other. It was humorous how the two had only known each other for a space of a week and already they were closer than most couples ever got, skipping straight from enemies to somewhat hopeless lovers. At first Anne was concerned that Eddie was perhaps suffering from some sort of Stockholm syndrome, but Eddie appeared genuinely happy with Venom. Quite frankly, she was a touch jealous.

"Don't give him the satisfaction." Eddie replied sarcastically.

Anne's pager buzzed in her pocket, "Shoot." She exhaled, reading the alert. "I'm on call tonight. There's always somebody that needs my help."

"Like a superhero?" Anne was his hero, always there to save him from himself and the bad choices he made in life. That did carry with it a heavy burden of guilt, given that Anne shouldn't have to stick her neck out on the chopping block.

"I could do without the 3AM emergency call outs because some dumbass kids decide to steal booze from a convenience store. Sometimes this job kills me." Regardless of how frequently it robbed her social life, she loved it. After Eddie's blunder earlier on in the year, Anne was grateful for being able to take a new path in her career. "I've gotta run, sorry."

"Will I see you again?" Eddie asked, missing her company already.

"Sure. I'll swing by tomorrow afternoon, if that's good for you? Maybe Dan and I will take you out for a pizza."

"You're too good to me," Eddie closed the door as Anne walked down the hall and to the elevator. Eddie picked up the bags from the kitchen, looping the handles over his arms to save making several trips.

"Do infants really require so much?"

"Human ones, yeah. Still think this is a good idea?" Eddie quickly dumped all of the bags out onto the coffee table to get a better look. Anne's absence sure made the apartment feel lonely. That is, until the thing living inside him perked up.

"Our offspring are born ready to survive. Human children are defenceless for years after birth. It's surprising that this race has lasted for as long as it has." Venom said, amused. The symbiote could not place a single item or its use but considered everything to be tedious and a testament to the flaws of humanity.

"Anne went all out." Eddie unfolded a set of baby-grows, holding one up. It was tiny, not much bigger than a palm span, "Do you think it'll fit into this?" He choked, feeling the tears pricked his eyes.

"Stop asking stupid questions. You're about to do that thing again-" Venom was a touch more sympathetic approaching Eddie's feelings this time round.

"I'm not! I'm not." Eddie protested, swallowing the lump in his throat, "I can't believe I'm becoming attached." He couldn't deny it any longer. The prospect of having a child of his own was growing on him – quite literally. In the short period between finding out and acceptance, his mind and body had been through so much. "This is your fault."

"It is a natural response. I am very much attached to our child as well."

"Look who's being a pussy now." Eddie laughed, cheering himself up.

"Without a paternal instinct, it is likely that we would eat the child."

"You're an intense mother-fucker." Eddie gasped, shocked by Venom's response. He had to remind himself that Venom wasn't human and that this sort of behaviour might be normal. "I'll let that slide, if you pick something for us to have for dinner." Eddie was grateful for the nausea dissipating, the only issue now, was to feed his hunger.

"You will reject any suggestion put forward."

"Cause you can't just eat frozen steaks covered in ketchup." Eddie snapped back, remembering vividly the time when Venom forcibly overtook his body, after hours of saying 'no' every time Venom asked. The symbiote went on a mini rampage and ate whatever he wanted, leaving a less than desired taste in Eddie's mouth when he was done.

"Maybe next time you'll remember to take the meat from the freezer." Venom nagged.

Eddie rolled his eyes, "How am I the man in this relationship, but still somehow pregnant?" He stated, observing the comparisons between his symbiosis and most romantic relationships.

"I don't understand."

"Of course." He sighed, with Venom having completely destroyed the moment. The two had settled on a frozen pizza and chicken wings -after much deliberation. Eddie had cooked the pizza perfectly, being a little overeager to eat came with a positive result, nothing being charred and blackened.

That hadn't lasted very long. Both Eddie and Venom finished the meal in record time, and now desperate for more. Venom often brought out the animalistic side to Eddie and at times like this would usually forfeit his will to shield himself from the horrors of Venom's actions. Today however, it was the infant within that turned Eddie into a monster.

After his meal he ploughed through everything in the fridge; the leftover noodles from last night, some chicken fingers, the cold cuts of ham, the entire pack of spiced cheeses, and an entire litre of yogurt. He topped it all off with a what was left of a two litre bottle of milk. Only when the fridge stood bare, and the condiments were spared, did Eddie snap out of craze.

Eddie stepped back, looking at the mess he'd made, "Why did you let me eat all that?" He manoeuvred over the spilt milk to the sofa.

"It's what we needed. You haven't eaten for a while." The intent was honest but they didn't appear to see things eye-to-eye.

"But the whole damn fridge? I'm sure that rice was at least three weeks old." Eddie rubbed the mound at his waist, wondering how his stomach seemed to be handling everything he'd thrown down his gizzard – including some old fried rice which would have definitely grown its own mutant colony of e.coli at this point.

"We needed to empty the fridge, at least we were not wasteful."

"You're somethin else." Eddie shook his head. It wasn't long before his stomach revolted and chucked up the majority of what was shovelled in. Venom didn't seem to understand that Eddie didn't share the same gastric environment. "This is a lesson to you." Eddie began, "maybe I need some new rules?"

"I'll make us better." Venom used his magic to heal Eddie's discomfort – removing the nasty bacteria and repairing the stomach lining that'd been torn from strain. Eddie felt immediately better, he'd have thanked Venom had it not been the symbiote's fault.

"Now be quiet, I've got some work to do." Eddie pulled out his laptop and turned it on. The desktop background remained a picture of him and Anne at a friend's barbeque last summer, he'd debated with himself to change it, but it reminded him of happier times.

Eddie left things as they were again, moving on to complete an assignment he'd been given last week. He'd been writing an article about homelessness in the area, an issue that frequently made him melancholy, remembering Mary and her ungodly demise. He knew not to blame Venom, it was that rich asshole's fault. Eddie wished to be on bigger things but knew that his employment was very much probationary – despite his recent takedown. For now, he was satisfied and moving back up in the world.

Eddie wrote next to nothing, making little impact on his word count. With his mind obviously on other things, writing was impossible. So instead, he dabbled in some editing and jotted down a few points and adaptations for next time; next time being tomorrow morning. For definite.

Eddie did some light browsing on predominantly pregnancy related things, looking up symptoms and stages. It was then that he stumbled across a home birth video. He shrugged, figuring it'd be better to know exactly what was up ahead. Things started out as he expected, with a woman documenting the first stages of labour. Time kept skipping and the pain grew mightier – still he kept watching.

Things turned grisly very quickly. Eddie couldn't withdraw his focus, too drawn in by the gore to close the page. His throat started to burn and he began to claim sympathy pains as he saw the moment the baby came to crown.

"Fascinating..." Venom remarked.

"God... this is brutal." Eddie croaked, face paling. "where's she putting her ha-" Eddie gasped as the midwife on-scene began to use her hands to stretch the vulva.

"I revoke my earlier comments, humans are fierce." Venom was overwhelmingly impressed by the strength and tolerance displayed. Venom had been under the impression that symbiote births were often complicated, but now had a deep appreciation.

"Ah-ah-ah." Eddie's screams were echoes of the video. He slammed the laptop lid closed at the sight of blood, the vaginal tearing had pushed him over the edge – now deeply horrified and beyond scared. He slid the laptop across the coffee table, wanting to widen the gap between himself and the source of his anxiety.

He sat motionless on the sofa, taking in the silence, steadying his breathing and heart rate. "what was that?!" He exclaimed. The video had surpassed his expectations, he had no idea that birth was so graphic and terrifying. "That-that I'm not doing that." He stuttered pointing at the laptop.

"You might not have a choice."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Eddie stood up slowly, realising just how heavy his body was becoming. Eddie sleepily slipped over to the bathroom to pee – metaphorically walking away from his responsibilities – something which he'd been doing uncharacteristically often now.

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to brush our teeth and go to bed." Eddie answered, flushing the chain.

"Why would we do that?" Venom replied, not ready to sleep.

"Growing a new person takes a lot of energy." Eddie yawned. Brushing after the meal he'd had would be a wise step towards avoiding death breath upon waking up in the morning. When ready for bed, Eddie plumped his pillow before climbing into the sheets. He settled into the cold eventually.

Before he drifted off, he couldn't help but stop to take notice of the tiny fluttering sensation in his stomach. He'd been feeling it all afternoon as it became progressively stronger, until now where it became distinguishably different to gas. "V, you feel that?"

"It's the baby moving, Eddie."

"That's pretty cool, hu?" Eddie rested a hand over where he could feel the movement. "he's strong." Eddie noted, as the movement featured firmly against the palm of his hand. It took him a while to fall asleep as he waited for the baby to still. The merriment that came attached to feeling the baby wriggling left Eddie with a smile that stayed glued to his face as he slept.

Eddie slept through the night, a total of nine uninterrupted house. Such rest was inevitably ended by the jarring sound of his mobile alarm clock.


	3. DAY 4

'It is 9:15 AM, current weather is cloudy – temperatures peeking at 9 degrees Celsius.'

"Ugh…why?" Eddie groaned. Not all at sure as to why any kind of alarm would be going off. He reached over to the bedside table and squinted through crust filled eyes, he turned off the alarm. He threw the phone across to the other side of the bed and laid back down. He'd been a step away from falling back to sleep when a sudden realisation startled him wide awake. "Shit!" He flung back the duvet and eased his way out of bed.

"Eddie, what's the matter?" Venom sounded groggy having just fallen asleep after keeping himself company all night as Eddie slept.

"I have an interview in a couple of hours, how'd I forget?" Eddie had completely forgotten about it. He hadn't done any prep or research, and according to the memo on his phone, he only had two hours – which included travel time – to spare. His problems didn't stop there, "What is this? Look at me." Eddie caught a glimpse of his physique in the bathroom mirror. Whereas yesterday his stomach appeared disguise-able, today it formed an almost perfect sphere.

"I can't go out like this." He begun opening the drawers in the cabinet, searching for something to wear. Most of what he owned were jeans and skin-tight t-shirts, which were no good to him now.

"Then stay at home."

"If I don't go, then the three of us starve." He shimmied into a clean pair of jeans, tugging them over hi waistline. His hips had gotten wider, in accompaniment with his girth, the trousers were never going to button up.

"Not if you'd let me handle things." Eddie would remain the breadwinner, fearing that Venom's solutions to their financial situation would no doubt include eating people and stealing.

"The answer is still, no!" Eddie stressed, frustrated. Everything he pulled out looked six sizes too small, so every garment was balled and lobed across the room. He kicked the drawer shut and proceeded with the next. Everything he tried on was either too tight or far too uncomfortable against his skin. Eventually he came across this old and wrinkly shirt, he'd always considered it too pink to wear, but now it would seem like his only option.

Even on, it remained loose-fitting and comfortable. He left the apartment with his warm jacket which would help to conceal the bump. He took a quick glance at himself in a shop window on his way to catch the cable car, admitted, this just happened to be the best dressed he'd been for a while. With time to spare, he stopped at the deli to grab some breakfast; two bagels and a fresh brew. He'd eaten one bagel while waiting for the car to arrive and ate the other on the journey.

Mid-way through the ride, an elderly lady hopped on, and given the time of morning, the car was completely full. Eddie watched the others all sitting glued to their phones, who hadn't moved an inch. He rolled his eyes and shook his head before giving up his own seat. The lady had been extremely grateful.

Eddie whispered to himself, "I know why you wanted to eat the entire population." Venom laughed at Eddie's sarcasm.

"It's not too late you know."

"If only." Eddie looked over his shoulder at the people behind him, smiling at their discouraged faces.

The cable car became increasingly packed, the closer it got to the financial district. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, which Eddie tried mediate to prevent Venom from flipping out and eating heads. He was very glad to be off and back out in the fresh air. Although, his feet had definitely swollen inside his shoes from standing for so long.

"How's about we go for ice cream after?" Despite the winter temperatures he couldn't help but but feel one hundred degrees. The close proximity to others had triggered hot sweats

"You're in a generous mood."

"Don't mention it." The ride had put him in a foul mood, so he really didn't want Venom to mention it or make a big deal about his kindness. Or else, he'd snap back his promise just to be spiteful.

Eddie found the building and by extension the man, of whom he was going to interview – Trent Bradbury – head of marketing at Wexler Enterprise. This wasn't his first unscripted rodeo and most certainly not his last. Tape recorder on and note pad out he conducted one of his world famous question and answer sessions. They must have been talking for about two hours on the new program being run for underprivileged youth – pushing them towards a career in business and finance. He found so many flaws with the initiative but it wasn't his place anymore to make a big deal.

"And you believe that this is working?" Eddie asked.

"Oh, no. I know that its working. This year alone we've had about fifteen new apprentices join our team. Companies in the area have reported similar numbers."

"That's great, you know, helping the kids." He nodded his head, "What's next? What are your next steps?" Gosh Eddie hated this guy, he came across smug and full of arrogance. He had to refrain from rolling his eyes every time the asshole opposite spoke.

"Our next steps would probably be to move towards setting up deep routed community outreach, targeting not only unfortunate teens but also ethnic minorities and other marginalised groups."

"Like visiting schools, churches, and youth groups?" He prompted. Eddie's attention quickly shifted. The baby was kicking, for the first time.

"Yeah exactly like that. We could sure use somebody like you in our efforts." Bradbury paused, confused. "You okay there?" Eddie sat with one hand over the activity, staring at the floor, trying to focus.

Eddie realised how strange his actions must be in current company, "Yeah…yeah, can I use your bathroom?" He excused himself.

"Sure, its just down the hall." Bradbury watched Eddie hurry out of the room, eyebrow raised.

Eddie checked the stalls in the bathroom to ensure that he was alone before talking to Venom, "You felt that right? I wasn't imagining it?" Eddie still held his stomach, hoping that the baby would become sprightly once again. "V?"

"What is it?"

"Don't tell me that you didn't feel it." Eddie was excited, ecstatic, and elated. In the beginning he'd been quite angry with Venom and resented the idea of having a child. Since late yesterday, feeling the baby move and grow within him has shed a new light on everything. He was well and truly attached, bonded, and connected now. Most of all, happy.

"I was sleeping." Venom replied, frustrated.

"Sleeping? The baby kicked, asshat." Eddie yelled.

"It will do, it's a baby."

"Jeez, would it kill you to give a damn?" Eddie sighed. Venom seemed completely unphased by the important milestones that wowed Eddie. That very much got under his skin seeing as the whole pregnancy was forced upon him and now that he was on board, he was alone in his enjoyment.

"Sorry Eddie, I didn't know that you felt like this." Eddie's complete one-eighty had been hard to keep up with. Venom's intuition has failed to pick up on his host's mood changes and now felt guilty.

"This is our kid, me and you." Eddie paused once again, "You gotta be able to feel that." Eddie had been too preoccupied to notice Venom's hand appear next to his own. "Whoa," He exclaimed as the baby kicked rather vigorously. "It must like you – I mean, somebody's got to."

"We should stop referring to the child as 'it', we need to find a suitable name." Venom could guarantee that the two of them would disagree on what 'suitable' might actually mean.

"It'd help if I knew whether it was a boy or girl."

"It is male. Since there is no need for sexual reproduction, the gender is irrelevant." Venom didn't quite understand the importance attached to gender. Being agender, like all others from that lineage, meant that gender had little value. For now it was clear that Eddie was carrying a male.

"Thank God…I don't think I could have handled a daughter." Eddie would have accepted the child either way, but it came as a great relief that their child would be a boy. The only female reference he had was Anne, other than that, he knew squat about the women experience – other than being pregnant. As a single father, he couldn't imagine himself doing a good job.

"What do you wish to call him?"

"Right now?" He paused, "I'll think about it." Having no real male figures in his life to honour, naming their child would prove difficult to say the least. At least he could be sure that they wouldn't be naming the baby Carl, after his father, the man who shunned and hated his own son.

Eddie went back to finish the interview, eager to get home. On the cable car back he received a call from Anne scheduling that pizza dinner she'd promised him last night. He couldn't wait, he had pizza on the brain. He decided to torment himself further by researching the menu, plotting exactly what he'd order. A deep dish pizza pie, a side of fries, and garlic bread – if he had enough room for dessert then a large slice of chocolate lava cake would go down well.

Eddie took a trip to Mrs Chen's shop for some essentials, given that he'd eaten everything in sight. He took one of the baskets from the entrance, "How's my favourite lady doing on this fine afternoon?" Eddie asked. Mrs Chen perched a brow at what she would assume as sarcasm.

"Fine." She took a moment to study her regular. Undoubtedly something was off, "You're looking perky, glowing even. What's your good news?"

"No good news. Just life going well." He smiled. The earlier events of today had left him in a permanent state of contentment. If anything, glowing perfectly depicted his current mood. The positive aura that surrounded him was impenetrable.

"I see." Her eyes darted to Eddie's midsection, "you've put on quite a bit of weight. I can help you out with some pu'erh tea, it's excellent for weight loss." Eddie chuckled, her other Chinese solutions hadn't ever worked – he wouldn't be surprised if this too didn't work.

"Thanks, but no thanks." He might take up the offer after the baby's born depending on what shape his body would be left in.

"Wait-" She squinted almost like she was looking deep into Eddie's soul. "I know exactly what's going on! Wait here." She scurried of excitedly to return several moments later with a handful of recipes. "Here, try these. Some for before and after birth."

"No I'm not –" He began, before being interrupted.

"I'm not stupid Eddie. Just trust me." Eddie's smile was thanks enough. Eddie routed around the shelves in the shop, popping things into the basket that Mrs Chen yelled out to him. She'd scolded him somewhat for not eating better and that it ought to change now that he had a child to consider. All in all Eddie was quite grateful for the wake up call.

Eddie carried the bags up the hill with great struggle, his lower back beginning to spasm just before reaching the top. "Let me help." Venom laced himself through Eddie's arms and legs, helping relieve the weight and assisting the travel up to the top of the hill.

"Cheers." He acknowledged, slumping the bags onto the floor. "I'll just put this away and then we'll have a shower?" Eddie cleaned as he went, using a wet cloth to wipe the shelves of the fridge, and sweeping the floor. Now that the fridge was stocked and tidy, he moved his attention to the pile of dishes sitting by the sink. "Up for some drying?" Eddie ran the hot tap and got a new sponge from under the sink. That was it, he was now in full focus.

It took Eddie around twenty minutes to finish scraping the mould off of the plates and tip away the cheese collecting in all of his mugs. Now his cupboard was looking full and the apartment lost its rancid smell. Eddie was proud of his achievements thus far, but the kitchen was the first worm to squirm out of the can. Turning around, he faced the rest of the apartment. Everything was dirty, from the carpet rug to the light fixtures. He sighed, fearing the effort ahead. Eddie removed his nice clothes and replaced them with slacks, not wanting to get them dirty if he was going to wear them out again later.

Eddie took the vacuum and cleaned the living room space, including the sofa cushions. He dusted the TV screen and its stand, as well as the coffee table. He wrangled with the neck of the vacuum to reach the far corners of the room that were covered in cobwebs which were in themselves coated in dust. Eddie sparred a passing thought wondering if Venom had indeed eaten the spiders that would have otherwise resided in those webs. "A wild accusation!" Was the response. Eddie laughed, understanding that it wasn't actually a denial of the offence.

Moving on to the bedroom, he collected a pile of washing to take down to the communal area. It mostly comprised of dirty socks and underwear – which had been running thin in his drawers for a while as everything stacked up. He took what he needed down and paid to use the washers. He promised to remember when the load was done to come back and get it. He'd be damned if he was paying to dry the clothes as well, he'd air dry them.

Back upstairs, he stripped the duvet and mattress of its sheets, to take down in the next load. He folded the clothes he'd carelessly thrown around this morning, and put them back in the drawer. Eddie dusted all of the wooden surfaces and collected the paperwork he stashed under his left pillow to put them all back into the binders on his desk.

His last mission was to tackle the bathroom. It was not a pretty job. He bleached the toilet scrubbing it bare, the same with the shower tiles and sink. By the end, he was sweating profusely. Completely tuckered out. Still wearing his yellow rubber gloves, he collapsed onto the sofa falling asleep almost instantly.

"Eddie?" Anne knocked on the door. "Eddie, you in there?" She continued.

"Eddie! Wake up!" Venom hounded, the sudden voice shocked Eddie awake.

"Hu!" He opened his left eye, scanning the room, confused as to exactly what had happened and how long he'd been out for.

"Eddie, its me. Hello?" Eddie scooted off of the sofa and hurried to the door. "There you are. I've been calling you for the last two…hours…" She stepped into the apartment, becoming lost for words at how clean everything looked. She looked around to the kitchen and briefly at the living room. "Wow, I've never seen this place so clean." She added.

Eddie quickly removed his gloves and threw them into the kitchen sink, "Yeah. I don't know what came over me." He wasn't sure whether to take offence by Anne's observation or to be proud that she acknowledged his hard work.

"You're nesting, Eddie. Its perfectly natural." Dan answered walking into the apartment.

Eddie glared unconsciously, feeling slightly territorial, "Nesting?" He queried.

"Yeah, you're getting ready to have a baby. Its normal that you should want to bring it home to a place fit and clean." It wasn't the first blind rampage that the kid had sent him on, and for some reason, he suspected that it definitely wouldn't be the last.

"When I couldn't get a hold of you, I thought I'd stop by and see if you were okay. You're awful at answering your phone you know." Anne lectured. She had every right to be worried now that her ex-lover turned friend was carrying an alien baby.

"Sorry – oh the pizza!" Eddie remembered. "What time is it? Did you guys-"

"We didn't eat without you. Don't worry." Anne chuckled. She could empathise with Eddie's split disappointment. Given how far along he looked, she inferred that his appetite might be just as big, if not bigger – eating for three. "I've got a table reserved, so we better get going."

"Give me ten minutes." Eddie rushed around like crazy. Taking a short shower to rinse away the thick layers of sweat and dust. He towel dried himself off and put his old clothes back on. In a rush he did nothing with his hair, allowing it to fall naturally. Ready and raring to go, in just under ten minutes.

"You've got everything?" Anne prompted.

"Yep." Eddie patted down his jacket pocket, feeling the shape that his phone and keys made in his pocket. Anne headed out and Eddie locked the door behind them. Dan unlocked the car doors and the three of them jumped in. "Nice wheels." Eddie complimented, slightly jealous. His bike had been totalled last week while being chased through the Bay Area by the goons sent by the Life Foundation. He didn't have money to replace it, so he would be relying on public transport and his own two feet until he could save enough.

"Thanks." Dan replied, half smug at one-upping Eddie, of whom he still felt slightly inferior paired up against. Ironically, he and Eddie shared this experience.

At the restaurant, they checked in and a waiter brought them promptly to their table. She handed them each a menu and read out the chef's specials. "We come here all the time, so we know what we're having." Anne noted.

"Great. So do I." Anne smiled nervously at Eddie's preparedness. "I'll get a deep-dish pizza pie covered in pepperoni, anchovies and black olives. With a side of cheese covered garlic bread." He hadn't even opened his menu.

"Olives, really? You hate olives." Anne whispered, frowning at Eddie's bizarre choices.

"Not at the moment…" Eddie shot her a grin, loud enough to explain it all. She didn't push the matter, guessing that the pregnancy was giving him some wicked cravings. Seeing as Eddie had always rejected anything covered in olives…and anchovies for that matter. She laughed behind her hand.

"We'll have a large chilli chicken pizza with a side portion of buffalo wings." Dan ordered.

Eddie quickly scanned the menu again, not having seen the wings on the online version. He spotted the words 'blue cheese' and instantly began salivating. "Gimme some of those too." Eddie piped up.

"Drinks for the table?" The waiter smiled, looking up from her note pad.

"A bottle of house red."

"And a root beer." Eddie had cut alcohol from his diet the moment that he'd found out about the baby. Although he missed the taste of proper beer, root beer was a manageable substitute. He'd also managed to cut down the coffee to one cup a day, which had been his greatest struggle.

"Great. Help yourselves to the free salad cart while you wait." The woman collected the menus and left with a peppy smile.

"Don't worry, I'll get up." Anne said, already leaving her seat. "Eddie, want anything?"

"Maybe a little." He got up with her and grabbed a bowl from the cart. He'd never been one for salad, but salad carts usually had other things like fruit and cold pasta. He loaded up on the oddest of things, Anne noticed. Eddie was spooning chunks of pineapple on top of onion chutney, and drizzled a healthy dose of sour cream over the top.

"You'll get a stomach ache if you eat that." She warned.

"Honestly, this kid…its almost like its half alien or something." He whispered while reaching for a bread roll.

"How are you so calm about all of this?" Anne asked, almost nonchalantly while generously helping herself to the pan full of croutons. The question arose from a place of concern, given that yesterday Eddie looked like an animated corpse, and now a day later, he had rosy cheeks and rested eyes.

"At first I was scared, like crap my pants scared. I suppose I got over it. Now, I've felt it kicking, and its not making me sick as a horse, I'm kinda enjoying this." Sure it was stressful and the threat of birth still lingered over his head, but emotionally and physically he felt great.

"You know what, you're so brave." She'd always admired that about him, even if it meant that he'd act incredibly foolhardy from time-to-time.

"Nah, I mean this isn't even the hard part." Eddie's coyness wasn't very reassuring.

"I'm Just worried about you." Anne reserved the right to be anxious. In fact, she hadn't slept since and probably wouldn't until Eddie popped and the kid was born. Maybe not even then. Should it come out looking anything other than human she'd freak out. Not to mention the residual worry about what the future held – would it be good or evil, will it want to eat people, plan world domination?

"Don't be, I'm a big boy." Anne retained her worried expression, "I'm going to be fine, Venom's got my back." There wasn't anything that he could do or say right now to make her feel better.

Venom became slightly gooey inside at Eddie's recognition, "You are mine Eddie, I will never let anything harm you."

"Thanks bud."

"You damn well better look after him, lizard brains." Anne threatened, poking Eddie in the chest. Regardless of Venom's plethora of super powers, Anne was a force to be reckoned with. Venom would do well to be scared, very scared.

"You heard the lady." Eddie smirked.

"You know, yours would be such an interesting case to document. It's a shame really." Dan commented as soon as the two returned to their seats.

"That's enough." Anne warned, interrupting before Dan could take the idea any further. "Look, food's here." She exclaimed to withdraw the air of awkwardness that swarmed the table.

Eddie devowered his pizza and sides, and like he promised himself, he ordered the cake to top things off. The cake had been far too rich for his tastes but ate it all anyway knowing that Venom would throw a fit should he leave some chocolate cake sitting on his plate. Together, he'd eaten entirely too much and now felt twice the size and three times as heavy, "That cake, man…" He huffed, stroking his stomach.

"I can't believe you ate all that." Anne laughed. Eddie had always been somewhat of a gannet, so Venom had been a true match. The two of them together were always hungry. Now with a third mouth to feed, they collectively became unstoppable.

"Eating for two, and a half." He released a small burp into his hand, feeling slightly better.

"You know, pregnant women only need an extra two hundred calories in their diet-"

"Let me stop you right there, that don't fly with us." Eddie protested.

"I know better than to argue with a pregnant person." Dan quickly apologised, laughing light-heartedly.

"That's right bub." He mocked.

"Let's head out, I've got to be at the courthouse early tomorrow." Anne admitted, effectively calling an end to their evening.

"You're right, it's getting late." Dan took a glance at his watch. They'd been sitting, eating, and talking for the better part of three hours and now it was drawing close to half past nine.

"Thanks for dinner guys, really. Haven't eaten that well in a while." He looked back at last night's supper, where he'd eaten everything but the kitchen sink. He grimaced even recalling the event.

"Forget about it, it's no big deal." Anne said earnestly. Eddie acknowledged that he must be one of the luckiest guys alive. Not many partners would stick around and support their exes, especially given how badly he'd betrayed her trust. For Anne to still be an active part of his life was a miracle.

"Appreciate it, really." Eddie pushed his chair out from underneath the table. "Don't even know if I can get up. You might need to leave me here." He smiled, not sure if he could heave his heavy body up from it's current position.

"I'm sure you'd love that." She replied cheekily. "We'll drop you back."

"If I'd have known that, I'd have eaten some more." He joked, becoming nauseous at the very thought of eating. Tonight had been enough, hopefully to keep himself going till morning.

"Come on you. Let's go." Anne extended a token hand, not that she'd be able to lift Eddie, but it provided the gentle prod he needed to finally stand up.

The drive back had been quiet, everybody far too stuffed and drowsy to maintain a conversation. When they pulled up outside of Eddie's building, he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door to his side, "Thanks for dinner."

"I'll walk you in," Anne followed closely behind. "I'm glad you and Dan are getting along." She mentioned. Seeing the two remain argument free and actually exchange light banter had been a remarkable achievement.

"What do you see in that guy?" Eddie asked sincerely.

"I don't know…he's sweet and romantic. But that's none of your business." She quickly reminded him.

"Are you happy with him?"

"Yeah, I am." Anne nodded, internalising her own response. Eddie swooped her up for a hug. She manoeuvred herself around Eddie's growing stomach, "gosh Eddie, you're huge." She stated before relaxing into the embrace. Really he wasn't all that big, but on his previously toned body, it seemed enormous. Anne rested her head on his shoulder.

"I think the kid likes you." Eddie whispered, "want to feel?" Anne was hesitant but gave Eddie her hand, he guided it over the bump, "See?"

"This is so weird." Anne stuttered, blown away but also slightly squeamish, as the baby began to knock her hand. "So weird." She reiterated.

"Venom told me it's a boy."

"That's a relief, I have to say." Anne chuckled. "No offence, but you're competently oblivious to all things woman." Not that he didn't try to better himself. While they were together, Eddie had learnt about the female experience but still remained hopeless in most instances. Anne remembered a time when she'd phoned Eddie and asked him to stop at the store to grab her some sanitary pads, but came back with the entire feminine Isle.

"No, yeah, you're right." Anne knew him so well. "You should probably get going, you know, you've gotta get up early; remember?"

"Okay, well call me if you need anything, and I mean it." She stroked his arm before walking away, waving to him as he approached the car. Eddie waved back and waited for the pair to drive off before heading inside.

"You know what?" He stopped, standing in the stairwell.

"What?"

"I left that load in the machine." He sighed. "I'll get it tomorrow, if it's still there." He really couldn't be bothered to deviate from the path directly to his bed. He didn't at all know the safety of his clothes, he hoped that nothing would have been taken, but wouldn't run it past some of the other tenants in his building. "I get paid tomorrow so we should probably go into town, get what we need."

"No alarms?"

"That's right, no alarms." Eddie unlocked his front door and put his keys on the kitchen work surface. He kicked his shoes off by the door, unwilling to ruin the freshly hoovered rug or traipse mud through along the floor. He knew that such precautions would not last very long. In his room, he stripped off and peeled back the duvet, it didn't have a sheet on it but that was okay, he was too tired to care. "Maybe we should get a TV for in here, you think?"

"So we can watch those funny cartoons in bed?" All of Venom's current pop culture knowledge either came from Eddie or from the late night adult cartoon series, Family Guy. It would explain why Venom hadn't picked up Eddie's manors, instead he acted rather like Peter Griffin – doing what he wants and when he wants, with Eddie as Lois (the mediator).

"Yeah, exactly." Eddie said, staring up at the ceiling. "Maybe when there's a sale on." He quickly backtracked, remembering that their latest expense was still baking in the oven.

Given the chance to lie in, Eddie always took it. Today was a Friday, luckily enough he had a three day weekend ahead. On Monday he had a hand-in date for an article, which meant that he didn't actually have to leave the house. For the next couple of days, up until the baby was born, he could relax and vegetate on the sofa if he so wished.


	4. DAY 5

WARNING THAT THERE'S A SMALL SEXUAL SNIPBIT FURTHER ALONG IN THE CHAPTER

Hope you enjoy! Tried to establish V and Eddie's love child's abilities, so I'm kinda worried about how I pulled it off. Anyway, this chapter is a little fluffy in some places.

When he finally awoke the next morning, it was the blaring sun that slowly brought him to. Just like he promised, there were no alarms. He'd usually lie in bed and check his phone for a while before actually getting up, but pregnancy had given him an overactive bladder which meant that he no longer had that privilege.

He got up to use the bathroom, when the time came he noticed, "fuck this." He grunted. Venom began to laugh at Eddie's misfortune. He'd gotten too big to pee standing up, completely unable to see over the size of his girth. Admitting defeat, he conducted his business sitting down. "Can't it just come out now?" Eddie pleaded. Venom continued to laugh, "Shut up." Eddie warned.

Eddie made himself a few slices of peanut butter and jelly toast and a brew of whatever Mrs Chen had given him – with a few heaped teaspoons of sugar the beverage was drinkable. The two sat on the sofa and watched NCIS on USA for about an hour before becoming sick of daytime television.

He'd put on his robe and gone to check the washing machines downstairs, to his surprise the clothes were still there. Slightly damp and not as fresh smelling as he'd have liked but he wasn't going to re-wash everything. Eddie took the stuff back upstairs and hung everything on the stand dryer by the window.

Facing the same struggles as yesterday, he decided to break out the last jumper he had. He left his t-shirt and shorts by his pillow; keeping them for later. "Your kid's stretching my tattoo." Eddie observed, his 'till I die' tat was drifting across the new web of skin. At the rate his skin was stretching, it left little time to allow the dermis to become elastic to accommodate the growth. He was sure, that his skin was already beginning to crack. There wasn't an inch of his stomach that wasn't inflamed. Should he remember, getting some moisturiser would be essential.

Fully dressed, he brushed his teeth, peed once more, and left the apartment. Eddie took the short walk over to the shopping centre hoping to secure some vittl things that he might need for when the baby arrives."I thought you didn't want to buy the baby anything?"

"What you don't know is that most things are returnable. If I don't need something or only use it for a few days I can send it back. No questions asked."

"So what do human babies need?"

"A crib…" He paused, attempting to collect a list in his mind, "not a clue." He really had no idea about the needs of babies.

*hiccup*

"What was that?" Eddie stopped still, "you got the hiccups?"*hiccup*there it was again. A small sound, far too delicate to belong to Venom, and was not made from his own mouth.*hiccup*He could feel the voice, all the way down to his stomach. He reached down, suspicious that the sound was originating from within the walls of his faux womb. A few still moments past and the third voice toned out, the short spasms remained. "I think the baby has hiccups." Every hour brought with it a new surprise, only growing his knowledge on the experience.

"Perhaps our son is developing his new abilities."

"What, like reading minds?" Upon reflection, it wasn't all too surprising. His kid was going to be half symbiote so it was natural that it'd have powers. In fact reading minds was a neat trick, like Professor X – the mutant superhero.

"Not even I can read minds. Impressive."Telepathy was an impressive skill, especially for a human to possess.

"He's going to be powerful, I can feel it." From how heavy the infant's kicks were from the off, told Eddie that at the very least their son would be strong. It was easy to draw comparisons between Martha and Jonathan Kent, who raised Superman, discovering all of their Son's hidden abilities. Maybe it'd be wise for the two of them to move to a secluded area of farmland, just encase their son could also shoot lasers from his eyes or fly.

"Very."

"Probably should've done all this online." Eddie commented, "my back kills." His back hurt, his legs were stiff, and his feet were tight in his shoes. All of this after fifteen minutes of walking. He took a quick look at the map, trying to narrow his search, rather than wondering aimlessly. "Babies 'r' us?" the name left little to the imagination, but that's where he was likely to find exactly what he was looking for.

Eddie found the escalator to the second floor, hopped on and began to climb the conveyer. He became impatient waiting to reach the top so he struggled up the last few. "what's that smell?" Eddie came across a scent that made his mouth water. He followed it to a sample stall a few feet away, giving away pieces of soft pretzels.

"Would you like to try some of our cinnamon sugar bites?" Eddie found himself practically drooling.

He took the sample and savoured every moment before he had to swallow, he made sensual noises in his head, slightly overwhelmed."We need more."Venom agreed.

"Where can I get more of this?" Eddie asked.

"We have a kiosk upstairs where we sell these and a bunch of other flavours like: chocolate sugar, lavender, and vanilla."

Eddie had to stop himself from rushing right away, he had things to do right here and with the current state of his memory he'd likely forget why he'd even left the house. "Thanks." He took one more free sample and went on his way. If anything, he'd grab something to-go on his way out. "You don't even realise the amount of money I'm gonna spend today, I don't need to buy a five dollar pretzel." Eddie responded to a needy Venom.

Walking through the doors to the store was surreal. He'd stumbled upon a make-believe universe, to which he didn't belong. Every corner was filled with blue and pink, so bright and blinding. Every wall was filled and not an inch of floor space free, it was hard to decide where to begin.

At the very least, he needed a crib, conveniently located at the forefront. He grabbed a trolley and set off. Even something as simple as a baby's bed was far more complicated than he thought. There were traditional beds, beds shaped like baskets, beds with single missing sides... what was best for a child he didn't know.

The eagle eyes he was receiving from the other customers made him far too contentious to ask for help. Instead he focused on price and durability. "Just ignore them, alright?" Eddie whispered, trying to settle Venom's low growl.

"They're judging you."Venom hissed, rippling with anger.

"It's a human thing, everybody judges everybody." Eddie shushed. "Give me a hand will ya." Eddie grunted, struggling to lift the flat packed box into the basket. With his arms and back as weak ass jelly, and a heavy mounded stomach to match, he found himself pretty useless and hopelessly dependent.

"You're too far along in the pregnancy to be lifting heavy objects."Venom ribboned through the muscles in Eddie's arms and lifted the box it's ease. Crib, check. Eddie threw in a dual pack of soft to-the-touch blankets.

He didn't have a car, so skipped past the car seats and boosters. Next was the strollers and prams, again he saw little need for them. Instead he opted for a front carrier. "You see how much this costs?" Eddie suppressed the miniature heart attack he got upon flipping the price tag.

"Can I help you Sir?" A store assistant asked, her eyes permanently glued to the mound that was Eddie's stomach. She'd originally hurried over after watching Eddie fumble about with a pile of changing mats.

He whistled at her to withdraw her attention, "yeah, I've got no clue what I'm doing here." He admitted. It'd taken him far longer than he'd anticipated just to distance a few feet. At this rate he'd be here all day.

It'd taken a little while longer than Eddie would have liked for the girl to stop staring, "We get that a lot." She took the mat from Eddie's hands and placed it into the trolley herself, "it's a changing mat, you'll be needing one of those." She added. "Just follow me." Eddie grimaced, remembering what Anne had said when she dropped by. "Its completely up to you how you want to comfort your child, but we have a wide range of pacifiers and snugglies."

Eddie browsed through a bin filled with soft toys while the assistant was busy, he grabbed a few, holding them under his arm to dig for more. That's when he noticed a lonely turtle sitting right at the bottom. He put the ones he'd been hoarding back for this one teddy.

"You've caught emotions again, Eddie."

"I used to have one of these as a kid." He observed tearfully. He didn't have much growing up as a kid, given his somewhat of a complicated upbringing. Eddie never received toys or gifts from his father, but could remember clear as day when he was given this cheap little toy. He treasured it, taking it everywhere until it fell apart. It had been on that day, when the last thread frayed, that his sister teased him for crying. She'd told him to quit being childish and that their father found his most prized possession abandoned on a bus.

"I'm not sure that I understand the sentiment behind this toy."

Eddie coughed, flicking the tears away with his thumb. "You're useless, you know that?" Eddie replied, gruffly. He added the stuffed animal to the trolley regardless.

"Sorry about that, where were we?"

"Whatever you think is best." Eddie let the assistant work her way around the store gathering the essentials, most of which Eddie didn't know he needed. By the end, Eddie had a whole cart full of items, most of which he thought was unnecessary. Then again, he wasn't an expert. After ringing up all of his items, he reluctantly handed over his debit card to pay the one hundred and seventy five dollar sum. "Thank you." He bid, before leaving.

"I've gotta call Anne, there's no way we can carry this all back." He'd only really expected to walk away with a handful of things, or just enough that he and Venom could chug up the hill. Now, he'd walked away with the entire store and didn't have a plan. He got out his phone and called Anne – speed dial one. It rang out a few times before she answered.

"Eddie, is everything okay?" Her voice anxious.

"I'm fine. I just need your help a little... that's all." He huffed, lumping himself onto a public bench. The cramping in his legs easing as soon as the weight was shifted.

"With what, where are you?" She held the phone between her ear and shoulder whist she washed her hands. Eddie had luckily caught her having a quick bathroom break - her first all day. Had she been preoccupied and come to look at her phone forty missed-calls later, she'd have freaked out.

"I need a ride, I've done some shopping and it's too much for me to carry back."

"Oh, Eddie." She sighed, "I'm a little busy right now. Think you can wait an hour?"

"Not going anywhere." Quite literally. He could allow Venom to take over his body but most normal Californians aren't accustomed to watching a huge, muscly symbiote walking down the street.

"I'll see you then."

Eddie left his stuff with the assistants at the checkout, promising to be back for everything when he could. Rather than sitting idly by, he went for that soft pretzel that he'd been thinking about relentlessly.

He then took a look around some of the men's clothing outlets for any sales on some nice shirts and bottoms. Sure he could live in hoodies, but there was no way that he'd wear joggers anywhere but to bed or to the gym – even if it would made his life so much easier right now.

It appeared that the last store wasn't the only place that attracted unwanted attention. It would seem that everywhere he went, people would stare at him, now it was becoming quite uncomfortable. Not too unlike his own skin. His nipples had become sore and itchy just like everywhere else. He feared the worst when he woke up this morning and his pecks had doubled in size. Again, another inconvenience.

"The hell is this?" Eddie grabbed his chest carefully, the slightest touch felt like pressing a huge purple bruise. It was great, not only was his tattoo warped by stretch marks, he now had a fresh set around his pecks. Their sudden growth had him alarmed, but his male brain told him that it'd be a good idea to squeeze and inspect them. "Ugh, what…what is this?" He smelt the liquid that expressed between his fingers. It didn't have much of a smell but it was sure startling.

"Your kind feed your young, yes?"Venom asked, since his spawn have always been born with the ability to find and claim its own food.

"Nu, uh. This is where I draw the line." Eddie rinsed his hands and chucked the slightly soiled shirt onto the floor. "I'm not doing that." He reiterated, shaking his head with his mouth curled downwards in disgust.

Eddie picked up some cotton shirts, some boxers, and two pairs of jeans – which he wouldn't be able to wear until the baby was born. He didn't mind too much, having his pant's button undone at the top.

Anne sent him a text not too soon after letting him know that she was on her way. So Eddie went and claimed his trolley and wheeled it down in the elevator and to the car park where Anne would be waiting. He wasn't left waiting for very long. "Anne, thank you, thank you, thank you." He praised.

"I don't have very long, so let's get this done." She hopped out of her car and unlocked the boot. She laid flat the back couple of seats to make way for the large flat packed items. "Woah, take it easy." She hurried to Eddie's aid, taking the heavy load from his hands. He was remarkably bigger than yesterday, which made Anne quite petrified by the prospect that Eddie could quite possibly drop at any moment.

The two of them, with Venom's assistance loaded the car in record time. "You've got sugar around your mouth." She noted, wiping the crumbs away.

"You know they sell cinnamon pretzels now?" Eddie mentioned excitedly.

"Yeah, and vanilla, and lemon." Eddie's sudden pained expression left her frightened, "Eddie? What's wrong?" She asked, about to pull over.

The wince faded and Eddie could finally talk, "This one has superhuman strength." The baby's much anticipated kicks came in like punches, sometimes catching a rib or an organ. He would be right to assume that the Son of Venom would inherit his strength. If the kid got any stronger, he'd have to be concerned about broken ribs.

"I don't want you building all this by yourself. I mean it. Just wait until tomorrow and I'll come and help you."

"I'm pregnant, not made of glass." Eddie exploded.

"Did I say you were?" She yelled back. "Sorry." Anne added, forgetting about Eddie's current mental instability. "You should just go home and rent a movie, relax." She suggested having her friend's needs at heart. Eddie kept quiet for the remainder of the way home, being overly careful not to say anything wildly more offensive.

They pulled up outside Eddie's building, "sorry for being an ass." He apologised. He couldn't maintain a level head anymore, the hormones and frustration that dragged along with the pregnancy were greatly taking its tole.

"No, no, it's okay." Anne ground her teeth, pushing any ill will down to remain supportive, "I'll help take all this inside but then I've got to go back to work." Anne grabbed as much as she could carry, with Venom's help, it didn't take them all too long to unpack the trunk.

Eddie dumped the last of the stuff onto the island counter, "Thanks again Anne. You're an honest to God life saver."

"It's what I signed up for. Now get some sleep, you won't get much chance once that baby is born." Anne left in a rush, closing the door behind her.

"What are we gonna do now you two?" Eddie scratched the skin on his stomach uncontrollably before restraining himself, knowing that satisfying the itch would bring more harm than good. In fact, he had a tub of moisturiser that would fair far better.

"Eat."Venom demanded.

"Great plan." Eddie put a tray of dinosaur nuggets in the oven – at Venom's request, and while they cooked he flicked through the movie channels to find something vaguely interesting to watch. He settled for Batman Returns, a film he'd seen perhaps a hundred times already. "I'll get a load of washing done and then we'll eat."

Eddie did just that, grabbing a hefty load from his bedroom and some spare change and ventured back down to the basement. Even the short trip down left him in sweats, but luckily nobody was around to bare witness to his state. He filtered in the detergent and conditioner before plugging in the money. Now he could eat in peace for the next forty minutes.

Eddie grabbed the tray from the oven and laid it across the hobs,"Eddie, your body temperature is hot."Eddie blotted his head with the tea towel before running the cold tap for a glass of water.

"It's hot sweats." Eddie shrugged off, gulping down an entire glass. The heat continued to rise and his sweat began pouring from every crevasse. The glass he was holding slipped out of his hand and fell against the kitchen sink, shattering. "I'm burning up." He finally admitted. The next logical step was to strip down and step into the shower, which would have been a good idea had he not collapsed just short of the tub. His vision went blurry and his balance betrayed him, he fell to the floor narrowly avoiding the sink.

Eddie wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious for, but when his eyes began to fluster open he could see that the sun had set and only darkness flooded the room. He felt almost powerless against a state of blind dizziness. His ears rang with a screeching white noise that made him clasp at his ears in effort to barricade the sound. Head pulsating, he searched the room for clues. He'd fortunately enough woken on the sofa.

"Eddie!"Came Venom's piercing voice, riddled with relief."Eddie."Venom called again, trying to elicit a response from the host.

"What…happened?" Eddie asked, finally thinking through the fog. "Last thing I remember…" he paused, trying to reclaim his memory. "Laundry. I was doing laundry." A sudden threat loomed over his head and he hugged his stomach in fear "The baby!" He exclaimed.

"The baby is well."Venom left Eddie's body to stare him in the eyes,"You scared me."Eddie became quickly confused, 'Venom, scared?' He couldn't help but question as to what exactly could warrant the Prince of Darkness to be so genuinely scared. Then he caught a glimpse of a flashback of which felt too real to be just a nightmare. Though, he wasn't sure whether or not to trust the film in his head, after all…he wouldn't eat anybody…right?

Eddie rubbed his eyes, blinking away the vision. "How long was I out for?"

"You weren't unconscious, you were on another rampage."Venom relayed.

"Yeah right. I passed out and you moved me to the sofa." Eddie laughed nervously. Again, his mind flashed with memories.

"The taste in your mouth is familiar. You remember it well."

Eddie smacked his chops and swallowed a thick clump of saliva, "I I didn't eat anyone. I-I- couldn't,"-

Eddie had fallen, for a moment he lay still, almost like he'd been blessed with a deep sleep. Venom new instantly that Eddie was not himself with open eyes. Instead he recognised the distinctive nature and need of his own kind – Eddie was possessed by...by whom? Venom couldn't tell, although the presence didn't radiate a dangerous energy.

It took a while for Venom to draw a conclusion, rather than an unknown parasite infecting Eddie, it'd been their son. By means of his extraordinary gift of chemokenesis, the infant had lulled Eddie into a comatose state and by the time Venom had figured out this mystery, Eddie was already up and walking. Venom had little idea as to exactly how to snap Eddie out of his trance – it looked as though Eddie would be stuck in this state until whatever need has to be filled. Venom had an inclination as to what that might be.

Being unable to communicate with their son made things difficult, instead, Venom used all available strength to guide him, making sure that their son followed Eddie's rules even if he was too young to understand them.

Venom aimed to maintain Eddie's character as to not raise suspicion. Venom smiled at strangers down the street – although this was met by peculiar looks. Perhaps they Venom was not doing the whole 'smiling thing properly'. Venom led Eddie's body down to the danger zone of town – a place the two walked past every other day. Turning right down an alleyway that Venom knew to be a drug hotspot, Eddie always lowered his head as they walked along. If anywhere, this would be the spot to fish for dinner. It'd also be the most acceptable place when considering Eddie's forgiveness further down the line.

Venom lifted Eddie's hood over their head and drifted into a dark corner. There he lay in wait – battling the kid's overwhelming urge to freak out – for a meal. It hadn't taken very long for an opportunity to arise, sure enough two hooded men in balaclavas began forcing a woman down the alleyway.

"Stop!" She screamed. To keep the woman quiet they'd pulled out a knife, "what do you want with me?" this time much quieter, obviously fearful.

"Give us all your money." One felon spoke fiercely into her ear, "now!" He hurried. The woman began digging through her bag to get her wallet and cell phone. Once satisfied, they released the woman who ran away crying.

Venom was very quickly losing the grip held over their child, if actions weren't made then and there, the child would have taken over. In that moment Venom moved from the shadows and approached the muggers, "that wasn't very nice."

"Yeah? What's it to you?"

"Get out of here before I slice your throat."

"Big words from small people."Venom absorbed Eddie's form, showing what they could become in it's entirety. The muggers stood petrified and still, "got any last words?" Venom asked, licking their lips with Venom's enormous snakelike tongue.

"Please!" One screamed as Venom fully extended their jaw. Venom took no mercy had began inhaling the mugger like a strand of spaghetti. At the sight, his accomplice took his chances legged it. Trying to escape with his life. The attempt had been far from successful as Venom grappled the man and reeled him back. In his final moments, he released a scream that only became muffled against the walls of Venom's mouth.

A dreaded guilt washed over the symbiote, whilst the actions taken had finally settled the child, Venom knew that Eddie would be gravely disappointed. After all, Eddie's stance on eating people was far from secretive, it'd been Venom's only rule and it been broken. Venom hurried back, not wanting Eddie to come round in this dirty alleyway.

"I said no!" Eddie yelled, having safely arrived at the right conclusion, "You had no right!"

"We had no choice. Our child took over to meet it's own needs."Venom knew that Eddie would be mad, but took the time to try and calm him down before he became worked up.

"That's bullshit." It'd been hard to hear, and even though it made sense, he didn't want to believe it. After all, he'd grown attached to the life growing within him and couldn't bare things turning out for the worse.

"You do not have to believe, this child is capable of biological manipulation, I barely had the strength to save the child from savaging the city."Venom couldn't explain why it was physically possible. From what he could tell, the infant had ran up Eddie's internal body temperature which resulted in their body shutting down. In the absence of a consciousness the child's essence took over – driven by the primal need for food.

"What? How is that even possible?" Eddie stroked his stomach, not getting any such bad vibes from his uncharacteristically calm child.

"That is unclear."Venom's effortful struggles against the will of the spawn was concerning, it'd taken every fibre of being to retain control. One thing was for sure, the untapped power that lay peacefully in Eddie's womb was one not to be reckoned with.

"I'm not even going to be able to control my own kid," Eddie threw his hands in the air with despair. "this is so fucked up..." the stress of the situation was giving him heartburn – either that or the people he'd just eaten were repeating on him.

"We are strong together, Eddie. So long as we have each other, we can accomplish anything."Venom didn't feel any relief wash from Eddie's hands.

"I'm-I'm going to take a break from this, catch some winks." Eddie swallowed hard before shimmying off of the sofa and to the bedroom. He threw on a tank top, gazing down at his stomach, glassy eyed. The pregnancy had just taken a scary turn, and he craved the child's movements to reaffirm his confidence. He stared at the bump for a few minutes, lightly tracing over known active spots to elicit a response.

When nothing came, he lifelessly tucked himself away. His head hit the pillow and before long his eyes became heavy and he crossed the bridge into sleep. It'd been in that moment that the infant decided to kick, nipping at his lower right rib. Along with it came a blissful euphoria. Eddie's faith felt restored, almost as if his baby had purposefully eased his suffering. He felt loved and in love all at the same time.

Eddie slept for about two hours before the incessant need to frequently urinate forced him out of bed. The rest had been much needed, waking with a clear mind.

After the ordeal undertaken, Eddie decided to jump under a nice warm shower. As he waited for the water to run to a comfortable temperature he took to scratching an annoying itch that he'd been avoiding touching all day. Only, the sweat from the fever had made the irritation unbearable. It started through the clothes he wore and eased somewhat until he stepped under the water. He went to itch the area again but stopped upon discovery of the naked spot somewhere between his anus and scrotum.

The area formed something similar to a pit, dipping in at the surface and puckered shut. At first he'd been alarmed by it. Then he went back for a closer inspection and innocently tried to pierce the hole with his index finger. The hole was pretty deep, it outstretched the length of his finger.

He bowed his head and sighed, realising exactly what he was dealing with. "This is it isn't it? How this monster is gonna break free?" Sure enough, like Venom had told, his body had morphed it's own birth canal. "You're not making me feel any better." Eddie replied to combat Venom's laughter. "Don't be a dick." He followed up, distressed. Venom only laughed harder. "Fuck you." Eddie bit.

"Seems like that isn't your only problem."Venom's laughter ceased, drawing attention to Eddie's unexpected erection.

"This is your fault too." He replied, embarrassingly touching himself. He'd gotten the odd few spontaneous erections, and pulsating horniness which he blamed on his pregnancy hormones. It didn't take very long before he reached climax, with a little help from Venom stimulating his prostate, he came. The two weren't ashamed of their actions, it'd begun completely consensual and really only amounted to a gracious favour.

"I hope this means I've redeemed myself."Venom hummed, whilst not being a sexual being, Eddie's pleasure fed into it's own.

"Shut up." Eddie laughed deliriously drunk on dopamine and oxytocin, "you had my back. Can't ask for more."

"Idiot."Venom mocked. Eddie may be the most idiotic genius on Earth, but he belonged to Venom. While carrying their spawn, Venom was even more connected with the bond shared with Eddie.

Eddie dried himself off and applied a generous amount of moisturiser to his engorged stomach to ease the pain burning from the stretch marks. "It's like he's growing new stretch marks." He observed, taking in the shire amount of raw pink ripples that tore through his skin. "When do you think he'll be born. Can't be long now that I've-" He coughed, "got the right equipment."

"There is still much growing to do."Eddie didn't see how that could be entirely possible. Already he felt stretched to max capacity and Venom was talking about growing even bigger. So far today, Eddie had recorded two major growth spurts which had given him raging cramps. He didn't mind the pain too much, figuring that the baby's growth was a positive sign if anything.

"Fantastic, fan-freaking-tastic." Eddie shoved the moisturiser back into the cabinet above the sink and waddled back into the living room. "That was a big one." Eddie gasped, feeling the baby kick hard against his innards. The kicks had become increasingly painful, something which also made him quite worried.

"The child does not mean it. After all, you are his father; just as annoying."

"What did you say to me?" Eddie glared. Instead of exploding he simply rolled his eyes, lavishing in the knowledge that Venom was the irritating parent. "He's just active...all that human..." He trailed off, not wanting to make such a morbidly bad joke about his unborn child eating people.

"I suspect so."Venom replied rather bluntly.

"Okay..." Eddie whistled, half expecting the symbiote to give such a cold response – though that didn't make it any less dubious.

"How do you want to spend the rest of the evening? Pretending to finish your work?"

"Uncalled for, really." He put, defensively. It was true, he hadn't attempted much work over the last few days and couldn't imagine getting much done after the kid is born. Which would leave now to be the last open window for some quiet time. If only he could be bothered. The pregnancy had given him severe brain fog and an extreme state of unshiftable apathy. "You got me there." Eddie threw himself down onto the sofa, "which is why I'm not gonna bother. How's about those apples?"

"A well constructed comeback, had that been the first time hearing it."Eddie's smug grin sunk into a glare.

"God you're an asshole." Eddie sighed grouchily. He pulled the laptop from the table and opened the needed files, "an hour. That's all the time I have before Star Wars: Return of the Jedi comes on, Papa doesn't want to miss that." Eddie bargained. He smiled to himself as he realised that he and Venom were two immature children about to raise a child – the perfect picture.

"Our child's first words will likely be; 'Hello there General Kenobi.' Or some other useless phrase."

"You do have your moments. Not many, but you have them." Eddie combated, loving the influence that he held over his symbiote.

"Stay on target."Venom struck back with this final quote, bringing back Eddie's focus.

"Alright, alright." He huffed. Sure enough, he worked solidly for the entire hour, surprisingly getting a great deal done. Almost on the hour, he saved his work and put the laptop down. He had just enough time to throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and take a quick trip to the bathroom.

Dumping the piping hot bag into a bowl, and grabbing a can of soda from the fridge, he lowered himself back into the sofa, where his seat still remained comfortably warm. Eddie shuffled around finding the optimum position around his mighty middle. Burying himself under a throw and using his stomach as a table for his bowl, he was ready to watch the movie.

He'd never fallen asleep during a Star Wars flic before. It's rather embarrassing actually. By the time he had woken up the TV had gone through its eco mode and switched off, meaning the film had long finished. That wasn't the main priority on his mind right now. He was starving.

The time on the oven read 1:45 AM, which was two hours and three minutes ahead. He'd neglected to fix the clock after a power cut three weeks ago. Now he knew to automatically subtract the difference, it'd be weird to change it now, having lazily gotten used to his routine. Regardless of the time, the growl in his stomach told him that he needed to eat, and now.

There was only one thing that'd satisfy his hunger; chicken nuggets.

"It is late. Let's go to bed."Venom reasoned.

"You don't get it. Unless I get some chicken nuggets I won't be going back to sleep." Eddie scratched his head, stressed and agitated. His common sense and appreciation for logic was overthrown by a blood-thirsty lust for nuggets.

"Eddie, we are not leaving this house."Venom reached for the bedroom doorway, trying to anchor the two of them in place.

"Try me." He resisted. Eddie slipped on his shoes, getting too big to reach over and lace them up. He also threw on a hooded jumper and large coat to keep warm. "Such a dick." He muttered. Eddie had never walked so speedily down the hill, one foot in front of the other and a hand on the small of his back, he came close to running at one stage.

The store was dead at this time, so he strolled on to the counter with an exhaustive list of food buzzing around his mind. The young lady at the counter couldn't draw her eyes away from Eddie's stomach his entire way through. "What can I get for you?" She asked.

Eddie ignored the stares, he knew how weird he must have looked given his pregnant belly and hoboesque attire, "I'll have a 40 piece nugget meal, 2 cheeseburgers with extra pickle, and a handful of those cookies over there." Eddie breathed warm breath into his hands to cope with the cold.

"Which soda would you like?"

"Half cola, half Fanta." He replied. "No ice." Given the state of the weather, he couldn't afford to make decisions which would make him even colder.

"That'll be $15." Eddie gave over a few crumpled notes and took the drink. He sipped it slowly whilst waiting for his food. "Darn, look at this rain." She noted, trying to fill the awkward gap with some small talk.

Eddie hadn't heard it over his disgraceful slurping, but sure enough the skies had opened their floodgates and from them came a mighty downpour. Eddie attempted but failed to zip up his coat as the two sides weren't coming nearly close enough to be closed. It looked like he'd be walking back up that hill and coming home drenched. Eddie grabbed his bag of food and smuggled it under his coat, bracing himself for the weather outside.

He'd closed his eyes only briefly as he crossed the barrier to only realise that whilst the water fell, he remained dry."I got us."Venom whispered, shielding Eddie from the rain. Sometimes Eddie forgot that Venom could take on any shape – or in fact capable of being an affectionate being.

Eddie suppressed the desire to appreciate the act, "Come, it's cold." He shivered. He'd only gotten half way to the top before panting, "Why'd you let me go out?" He accused sarcastically. "This kid is so heavy." They'd managed to get to the top eventually, but not without constant complaints. "I better be getting a foot rub or something," Eddie sighed, stripping off his outer layers.

"How do you give a foot massage?"Eddie rolled his eyes, from that revelation, it'd likely mean that any massage Venom would give would hurt worse than his already crippled feet.

"This stuff is barely warm!" He cursed angrily. He knew it'd have to be eaten cold or not at all, given his reluctance to nuke fast food. Then again, he was too hungry and still ravenously craving nuggets, so on this occasion he ate well. Forty nuggets, two burgers, a portion of chips, and five empty sweet and sour dip packets later; Eddie had scoffed the lot and felt incredibly full. "And the baby is happy – really happy." It would appear that the spawn within him was also developing a nugget dependency.

"You'd prefer that, instead of our child inheriting my liking for living beings."

"You got me there…" Eddie inhaled sharply feeling a powerful kick jab a rib. He'd felt their son move into the correct birthing position a few hours ago, but that only meant that the kicks the baby now delivered came came at such an angle as to cause significant pain. "I think-" He breathed, wincing, "-I think I heard a crunch." Eddie couldn't breath without intense agony.

"The kick was strong enough to break the impacted rib, I will fix it."Venom had the injury healed within a matter of seconds, sparing Eddie from any prolonged pain. "I'm sorry that this is happening to you. I had not considered the possible damage to your human body." Venom couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty.

"Just so you know," He coughed, his ribs still felt bruised but that was a markable improvement, "this is it. No more." Of course this had been an enriching experience, but he'd never willingly do this again.

"We should hope."Venom couldn't be truly sure, he'd assumed that the Life Foundation had removed all of his seeds, but apparently not. Venom wouldn't want to put Eddie through another Kylntarian pregnancy, despite his excellent handling thus far.

"Let's just think about the baby. He'll be here soon, and this will all be over." Eddie huffed, chucking his rubbish in the bin. "Then I'll be able to go a whole two hours without needing to piss sixty times." The less mobile he became, the more irritating it was to drag his heavy bones off to the bathroom.

"And we will have a son."

"Your baby is giving me killer indigestion." Eddie undressed himself, "I'm fucking huge." He stroked an open wound on his stomach, torn from an earlier growth spurt. Again he applied a soothing moisturiser to the taught skin.

"He is strong and healthy, what more could prospective parents ask for?"

"I guess..." Pulling back the duvet, Eddie climbed inside. "Suppose we got to sleep, if Anne is coming over in the morning." He remembered.

Close to half an hour had passed and Eddie was still wide awake, tossing and turning."What are you doing? Lay still."

"I'm so uncomfortable, I can't sleep." Feeling crushed under the weight of his stomach was keeping him up. Whenever he moved to find a suitable sleeping position, it'd be either too painful on his back or leave him breathless. As a front sleeper, transitioning to sleeping on his side was a struggle.

"Please go to sleep."

"Don't you think I would if I could?" Eddie stuffed a pillow under his stomach to shift some of the weight, "how do women do this?" He pondered, trying hard to successfully succumb to his fatigue. "Ah," he sighed with relief, rubbing his head into the pillow, "that's it." He daren't move an inch.

He lay still for all of five minutes before having to jump from the comfort of his bed, and dart to the bathroom – just in time too. The McDonalds had given him horrific indigestion that wet the back of his throat and unleashed a fiery heartburn. He really wanted to be over the whole face-deep-into-the-toilet thing. He'd thrown up more times in the last few days than he could account for in his whole adult life. It sucked, well and truly.

"Ugh..." Eddie flushed and wiped his mouth on some tissue. "That's the spot." He said. As much as he hated being so sick, it was a necessary evil to feel better and feel better he did. So he returned to bed, slowly and gently got settled as to not wake the nausea.

"Will you be able to sleep? I sense tomorrow will be a big day."Perhaps figuratively and literally.

"What do you mean by that?" Eddie glared up at the ceiling, "See now you got me anxious."

"You knew this time would come."

"I know, I know. I'm just-" He sighed in contemplation. "Scared. I know this is gonna really hurt and, you know... what if I don't make it?" He slipped off. Venom had reassured him enough times that he'd be perfectly safe, but after cracking a rib it only reminded him of his mortality and co-dependence on Venom.

"There's no way that we'll die, stop being stupid. But yes, this will be extremely painful. So painful you may wish for death."

"Why are you making this worse?" Eddie croaked. Venom and Eddie argued like a long-time married couple through most of the night, with Eddie falling asleep again at around five.


	5. Day 6

Eddie had only been asleep for a few hours before being awoken by the smell of food. As he became more aware, he could confirm the sizzle and smell of bacon. On deeper thought, that meant that someone had gotten into his apartment, uninvited. "V," he whispered. "V!" He continued. "There's someone in the apartment."

"Is that food?"

"Don't just think with your stomach!" Eddie said erratically.

"There is no need to panic, we will go and have a look see." Given Eddie's sensitive disposition, it would be unwise to dismiss Eddie's worry. Venom helped Eddie shift his heavy body out of bed. It was quite obvious that Eddie was struggling, the baby he carried was almost to term and undeniably extraordinarily heavy.

Eddie peeked his head round the crack in the door, not recognising the stranger from behind. Eddie picked up the baseball bat he had wedged between the wall and chest of drawers. He crept out, with the bat leading.

"Anne! Can you come and butter this toast? I don't want to burn the bacon." Eddie felt foolish as soon as the stranger spoke up. Of course it's Dan, who else could it be? He put the bat down before being seen. "Eddie, whoa!" Dan almost dropped the fork he held at the shire sight of Eddie's new physique.

"Eddie, look how big you've gotten." Anne mentioned, wiping her hands on her jeans, "you've got no towels in there by the way." She said casually. "oh, there they are," she spotted a pile of clean laundry folded on the sofa, "I'll put this away for you."

"The toast-" Dan asked.

"So you two broke into my apartment to make breakfast and put away my towels?" Eddie was grateful but confused. "How'd you even get in?"

"That key, the one you hide on top of the door frame." She made air quotes emphasising the fact that the key was actually not a well kept secret. After spending a good five minutes knocking with no response, she let herself in.

"How are you feeling? You look a lot further along than the last time I saw you." Dan's admiration was uncomfortable. "Any haemorrhoids? Or cons-"

"Dan!" She slapped his arm, "ignore him, please."

"I'm sorry. I'm just curious about what's going on. It's in my nature, I'm a doctor." Dan reasoned. "I just want to help."

"I get that, thank you."

"Anyway, here, eat up. Then we'll get cracking, turning this place into a baby paradise." Anne took a long look around the apartment figuring that it would probably take a life time of work to get this place ready before introducing a child. Given Eddie's current condition, they really didn't have much time.

Early afternoon raced by, it'd been two o'clock before anybody suggested that they get to work. Dan got busy putting the baby proof lock onto the cupboards, and smooth edges on all of the furniture. After all, none of them could account for how quickly the baby would grow once it was born. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Meanwhile, Anne helped Eddie out together the side sleeper cot. They'd been pleasantly surprised by how clear the instructions had been, which made assembly straightforward. "So, have you thought of any names?" Anne asked, pulling fabric over a metal pole.

"Not really. If it'd been a girl, I'd have named it after my mum or my sister." His mother, Jamie had died during childbirth so he sadly didn't have a chance to meet her, and his sister Mary died from breast cancer a few years ago. Despite never knowing his mother and resenting his sister for the majority of his life, they both meant a lot to him. It would have been an honour to name his child after either of them.

"Jamie is a unisex name," Anne put forward, "what has Venom got to say?"

"You don't want to know, he keeps coming up with shit-crazy ideas." Crazy to him, given the significant gap in culture between alien norms and his own. "I mean, you can't call a baby Sleeper."

"It's a cute nickname." She agreed, "It's kinda silly but when I was thirteen, I planned exactly what I'd call my kids." Anne laughed awkwardly. "If I had a boy, ideally I'd have one of each, his name would be Noah."

"Noah? I like Noah." The name resonated with him, feeling it deep in the pit of his stomach. "what's with this tiny mattress?" Eddie struggled awkwardly to put the small sheet over the baby sized mattress. He wasn't sure whether it was needlessly complicated, or if the blame lay with his pregnancy putting strain on his common sense.

Anne laughed, trying not to intervene; "Hey, it's yours if you want it."

"You know, I think the name will come to me when I see him." Eddie didn't want to take the name which meant so much to Anne, he knew that he didn't quite deserve to.

"Alright, well, the offer stands." The two stood back to admire their handy-work, "that looks good." They both nodded in agreement. The cot was fully constructed and placed neatly at Eddie's bedside, in it was a cosy blanket and a plethora of soft toys. It looked ready for a baby.

"I've pretty much baby-proofed the entire apartment. Everything that was easy to open, now has an annoying lock." Dan took Eddie and Dan around the apartment to showcase his efforts. He'd put latches on all of the floor standing cupboards, the fridge, and the toilet. Every corner had a foamy edge, for wound-proof learning.

"You locked my toilet." Eddie asked, far from satisfied. Already seeing the dangers of such fiddly locks and his hyperactive bladder.

"Better than Jr catching his fingers."

Eddie skipped over that debate, knowing full well that his kid would probably be getting into all manor of accidents, with no telling whether or not it'll have the same regenerative abilities, "So I just pinch these bits?"

"What next?" Anne asked. She and Eddie began a new task of making room in among Eddie's clothes, to clear out a drawer in his unit for baby clothes and other essentials. Anne began by taking out each drawer and tipping it upside down all over the bed. "You sit there, and I'll show you something, like this t-shirt and you tell me whether you want to keep it or lose it."

"Keep." Eddie replied back automatically, he was not throwing away his vintage Metallica tour t-shirt.

"Okay, what about this one?" Already she could see that Eddie had a hoarder collection of t-shirts, most of which she recognised sitting in the back of the chest of drawers back in her apartment.

"What? Why would I throw that out?" He refused to throw away most of what Anne held up, even things he couldn't remember ever wearing.

"Really, Eddie? This has a hole in the armpit!" Anne threw the shirt into the garbage pile that paled in height to the keep pile. "You need to make more of an effort." Anne lectured. "I get that you have this ripped edgy look going on, but you've got pairs of underwear that are ripped at the waistband and socks that are fraying at the seams."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...edgy?" He reiterated, never having considered his fashion sense to be anything but normal.

"Yeah, edgy. This kinda thing was cool in the 90s, its 2018, you can't be wearing this stuff anymore." The insult was gnawing deeper with every word.

"Stop just throwing out my clothes!" Eddie raised his voice, stressing his frustration.

"Yeah, well..." Anne paused, "let me help you."

"I'm sorry, sorry." Eddie recited. It took quite some time to clear out all of his un-needed clothes, but by the end he had freed up more than enough space. He'd realised half way through that he really didn't need most of the clutter, and that he ought to treat himself to a completely new wardrobe because, despite his ego, Anne was right. Venom's cackling laughter was enough to shake him out of this youthful rut.

"How's about some dinner? I'm starving." Dan asked, his head peeking round the bedroom door. "Oh look, I had that shirt!" Dan pointed to a Star Trek tee lying on the ground. "Man, those were the days." Eddie had brought the shirt quite some time ago, ironically of course. He'd never been a fan of the show because he was 'too busy getting laid' which was far from true. Either way, any notions he had about keeping the shirt went straight out of the window.

"You know what, I've been dying to try this new shawarma place that just opened up." Anne gave her answer, rather excitedly. "Eddie, you've had shawarma before, right?"

"Shawar- what?" He failed to understand what Anne was even referring to.

"I'll just order a bunch of stuff and we can share it out." Dan noted, googling the menu.

Dan had ordered seriously too much food. The delivery driver came to the door carrying two carriers full of food; but it was better to have too much than too little. When it came to dishing out the food, nothing but good words were spared, complimenting the lack of moisture trapped in the pitta, and how the meat smelt delicious. Already, Eddie couldn't believe that he'd never heard of the cuisine before.

"We've got lamb, pork, and chicken." Anne gestured to the different types of meats available prepared by kafta, shish, and shawarma. "Try this first, and tell me what you think." Anne loaded a generous handful of shawarma into Eddie's pitta, along with some flame grilled peppers and dressed the sandwich with garlic sauce.

Eddie scooped up the bulging bread, trying not to drop any before it reached his mouth, "oh-my-god." He breathed, with a mouth full.

"More! More, Eddie, more!" Venom screamed internally.

"You've been quiet?" Eddie shook his head, not at all surprised by Venom's sudden reaction. Eddie had eaten his fair share and then some. Anne had been completely shocked when Eddie ate the chillies that she usually discarded. "Ugh, meat sweats." He groaned, feeling full.

"I'm glad you two liked it." Dan said, trying to be inclusive.

"Venom, he's kinda a dumpster. Learnt from the best I suppose." He gave himself a backhanded compliment.

"I suggest that you rest, you're going to need it." Eddie had been trying to avoid the inevitable all day, any time Venom's words resurfaced the anxiety brought intense heart palpitations. "Ask Anne to stay here for the night."

"No, I'm not gonna do that." Eddie argued.

"Do what?" Anne called from the kitchen, herself and Dan clearing the plates and bagging the rubbish for disposal.

"Oh...mmn," He stuttered, Venom egged him to continue, "I was wondering if you two wanted to stop the night. V, he thinks, tonight could be the night." Ultimately it was his own best interests to have Anne stay, as he would need all the support he could get.

"Good thing I already called in sick tomorrow?" Anne smiled. She had a pre-emptive gut-feeling that Eddie would need her company, which is why she packed herself an overnight bag and stashed it in Dan's car.

"I'd love to stay with you, Eddie, but I've got a demonstration tomorrow morning for a journal." Dan sighed, "I'll stay for as long as I can, encase you need me."

"I'll be with you, don't you worry about that." Anne added.

"You'd do that for me? Seriously, you two are amazing, like, I don't know what I'd do on my own."


	6. DAY 7

So, this has been sitting on my computer for a while and I am ashamed to say that I have neglected it. I didn't want to post this at first because I wasn't overly keen on the ending. But the story needs to have this satisfying bookmark. So after much deliberation, I hope you guys like it!

WARNINGS FOR A DETAILED BIRTH - BE IT ACCURATE OR NOT

Chapter Text

DAY 7~

The three of them watched movies for most of the evening, completing the original Star Wars trilogy. It was only at one in the morning that Dan had woken up from the sound of a car horn outside of the building. He, along with everyone else must have fallen asleep in front of the TV. Wary of the those still sleeping, he got his coat together and put his shoes on. He gave Anne a kiss on her forehead, whispering in her ear as she stirred awake, "I'm going to go. Call me if you need me."

"Thank you." She replied under her breath.

"I'll come back as soon as I can." He promised before leaving for his car. He gave Anne a kiss at the door and left.

Anne watched over Eddie as he slept, watching his face scrumple every so often, it almost looked like he was in pain, but still sleeping. She debated with herself as to whether she would wake him up and ask him what was the matter but decided against it. She assumed that Eddie would need to rest for as long as he could. Instead, she covered his sleeping corpse with a blanket before relaxing back into her own chair.

It didn't take long for the pain to escalate, waking Eddie up. Instead of recognising such pain for what it was, he slipped into the bathroom; mistaking the cramping sensation for a marvellous warning to end his constipation. He sat in the bathroom for quite some time with no luck.

"It's gotta be indigestion," he sighed, rubbing his stomach. "I knew it tasted too good not to come back." He rocked and breathed through the pain that surged in his lower back. He began to panic when his plug fell out, in pieces. At first, he'd been petrified but remembered reading about the 'bloody show', and he distinctly recalled all of the images he'd scoured through. Eddie persuaded himself that this still wasn'ttime.

In the mirror's reflection, Venom spoke to him,"Eddie, stop being a fool. You know what this is."

"You've gotta be shitting me." Eddie groaned. "This is- I can't-" He began to hyperventilate and panic.

"Calm down. You will be fine."For some strange reason, Venom's words served little comfort. Having repeatedly told Eddie of the horrors associated with giving birth, his panicked reaction was rather reasonable."I assume that this is only the very beginning."

"My water hasn't broken." Eddie stated, raising doubts. "and these contractions aren't that bad."

"Do you believe everything that you've seen on TV?"

"Hey! I did my research, I just...I don't know what's happening." He said, afraid of his own body. "Now that it's started, I want it to be over." Now came the worst of it all, lying in agony for their child to be born. "Maybe you could just get the ball rolling? Or pull it out – yeah! Do that." He exclaimed.

"This child will arrive only when it is ready. Your species gives birth over a matter of hours, I do not believe that this will take long."

"You don't know that-" Eddie gripped the sink, another contraction was brewing, only slightly more painful than the last. It faded again just as quickly as it arrived. "That was alright, I don't get what the big deal is."

"Oh, this is just the start!" Anne laughed from the doorway, "Dan's taught me a lot over the last two days, and you my friend are yet to brave active labour. So don't get cocky." Anne lectured. "How far apart are these contractions?" She donned a brave face, giving the allure that she knew exactly what to do and wasn't at all scared.

"Not sure."

"Alright, well, this is it Eddie." She cupped her hands in a celebratory fashion. "Dan taught me some birthing exercises, better late than never." She and Eddie took to the living room, "There's a few stretchers you can do, if you want to try them?"

"Yes?" Eddie replied, unsure. He lowered himself onto the floor beside Anne but grabbed a pillow to sit on. "Yes." He asserted.

"Right-" She paused, reliving the night before last when Dan had effectively demonstrated the best stretches and exercises, and their effectiveness. "I can't really remember what they're called, but there's this one." She instructed, tucking her knees under her body and resting her head on stretched arms.

"I don't really see how-" He questioned, shortly stopping himself. Instead of raising any queries he simply complied. He couldn't be sure as to whether he was doing it right, but blood began to rush to his head, which was not a good sign. "Next?"

"We can try squatting." Anne replied, all too peppy.

"Yeah, about that…I'm too heavy to be squatting on the floor." Eddie denied all possible chances.

"I'll help." Eddie rubbed his brow and shrugged. He had nothing to lose by humouring Anne, so gave it a shot. He squatted and Anne held him by his arm pits, wary of his weight as to not rely on Anne so heavily. "That good?" She asked, getting the impression that her methods were shaky at best.

"Yep-" Eddie groaned, "No, just put me down." He asked, legs giving way under his own weight. "Anne, I don't know if these are-" She cut him off enthusiastically.

"One more! Come on." Eddie couldn't say no, it was physically impossible to reject anything Anne wanted from him. He sighed a 'yes', "great, this one should be nice and easy." Anne demonstrated the next stretch, Eddie followed closely behind.

"What are you doing?"Venom looked upon the situation skeptically."You look ridiculous."Eddie felt pretty stupid, on his hands and knees arching his back.

"That's it, I'm done." Eddie stopped at Venom's mocking laughter. "Here comes another one," Eddie held onto his stomach, rubbed his bump calmly and rode out the small surge. "Not bad." A little more painful than some before but seemed to last a little longer. For now, he was very much in control.

"That brings us onto breathing." Anne begun," you probably think you know how to breathe, but I'm going to teach you how to breathe properly!" Eddie sighed, not seeing the end to these trials. "Don't give me that."

"Alright, I leave my lungs in your hands."

"The word 'relax', if we split it into two, 're' breath in, and 'lax' breathe out." Eddie tried the tactic, and after a while he did in fact feel more relaxed, and his breathing became stable. It came close to a meditative state. Although he couldn't see this helping much when the agony was much too assaulting to chill. "The next one is to count your breathing, making sure that the exhale is longer than the inhale." Eddie did as he was told, this felt slightly more doable in the right circumstances.

When the next contraction bubbled up, Anne coached Eddie through it, having to remind Eddie to breathe through his nose and out through his mouth. Although, he did remarkably well, and found the knowledge and practice helpful.

Two hours had passed since then, and things were progressing rapidly. "God!" Eddie cried. "That wasn't five minutes." He squatted, holding onto the island in the kitchen. It'd been far too uncomfortable to sit or lay down, despite Anne's constant nagging for him to relax.

"It was four and a half." She read from the timer on her phone, "this is good, at this rate, you'll be pushing that baby out in no time." Anne couldn't do anything to ease his pain which put her in a difficult position. "You should let me have a look." She pleaded.

"No-" He exhaled, "not yet." The contraction released and he could finally think. He didn't want Anne to examine his progress because of his oversensitive sense of pride.

"You have to let me at some point, Eddie. Whatever you've got going on downstairs is nothing I haven't seen before?" She smirked.

"Mnn, well, last time you saw me I didn't have a-" Eddie froze, as if somebody had taken a pin to an imaginary waterballoon he held between his legs; a sudden sweep of water gushed from his canal. "That was-that-" he stuttered.

"What is that?"Venom grimaced.

"Your waters have broken!" Anne gasped. She could see Eddie become bashful as his bottoms became saturated, "it's okay. I'll grab you some more pants." Anne rushed away to the bedroom to grab a dry pair of trousers. "I'll help you." Anne helped pull down the soggy pants and Eddie held an arm around her shoulders for support. The contractions had weakened his legs and he was quite tired. Anne hadn't expected the water to still be running out from between Eddie's legs. "I don't suppose you have a night gown or something?"

"I don't mind being wet." Eddie would rather be soaked than to go commando. "It's like I'm peeing but can't control it." He grimaced as the water continued to leak out slowly.

"That's disgusting."

"It must be so weird." She admitted. "I'll put down some towels."

"wait-wait." Eddie closed his eyes and held his breath. Another contraction hit and Eddie felt like killing himself to end the suffering. "I'm not doing this again, asshole." He bit out. Anne lowered him onto the sofa.

"Remember to breath, you'll pass out if you carry on doing that." Eddie didn't want to breath. He wanted to keep his body as tense as possible to block out the pain. "They're really close together, I really think that I should take a look."

Eddie nodded his head, finally realising that he needed Anne's help more than anything, as the pain settled, Anne stripped off the second pair of pants. "I'm glad that it's you doing this, not Dan." He laughed weakly.

"Try not to become aroused."

"Was that a joke, you sick fuck?" Eddie shook his head, unable to comprehend Venom's sense of humour. "I'm glad you can't hear him."

"I've never done this before so bare with me." Anne tried to move past Eddie's new orthosis, so he wouldn't become self conscious. It was all so startling. She didn't ever consider for a moment that this is where her life would take her; helping her ex-fiancé to give birth to an alien baby. Nevertheless, she did what she felt is right and inserted her fingers into the faux vagina.

Eddie covered his eyes and breathed slowly through the procedure, "If I'd have to guess, maybe seven centimetres dilated?" She wished that Dan were here to take over, as his teachings were hard to follow and implement. "You should think yourself lucky, some women are in labour for days."

According to Eddie, the next hour passed like a week. He huffed, groaned, and belted in agony as the contractions began to stampede. The water continued to dribble, but Anne chased after Eddie mopping it up as he walked laps. Eventually he could barely catch his breath between them; each rolling in every two minutes, lasting forty seconds. At this stage, Anne had dragged Eddie to bed and made a hug of water, keeping Eddie hydrated was a big priority given how much he was perspiring.

"I think I need to push." Eddie noted a transition away from the contractions which brought along a different kind of pain accompanied by a deep-set pressure. "Yeah, this is it. Pushing time." He assured himself.

"Right. Okay." Eddie had refused all advise to lay down, instead he insisted on squatting, holding tightly onto the island kitchen counter. Anne spread out the towels to catch anything that should drop from between Eddie's legs.

"It's like I'm trying to crap out a watermelon," he revealed after the fact. Eddie yelled as this new pain whipped along his body. He trialled his body's new instinct to push, gripping his legs and baring down. Things took an unprecedented turn as Venom began to rattle under Eddie's skin almost as if they were being pulled apart. Eddie knew it was happening but couldn't defeat his urge and stop.

At the crash he gasped for air, "what's going on?"

"I do not know. Just keep pushing, our son is almost with us."Venom could feel their cells split forcibly, just like the reaction to sound frequency. As absurd as it, it was almost as though Eddie was pushing Venom out of his body along with their child and had no way to pull back.

"Eddie, just keep going. You're doing so well. I'm so proud of you." Anne encouraged. She understood very little of what was happening, but things were in full swing and Dan was indisposed. "Eddie, don't forget to breathe, remember, like we practiced-" About now all he solidly knew how to do was recite her breathing mantra.

"I know how to fucking breathe!" Eddie stressed through a tightly drawn jaw. He'd instantly regretted the remark, "sorry. I'm sorry." He took several deep breaths in the small gap between the this and the next contraction.

"It's alright. Yell, curse, swear at me all you need." She stroked his back soothingly, at this moment in time, she was surprised that Eddie wasn't throwing abuse any which way to cope with the pain. She had such empathy for his condition, seeing Eddie's strained expression, his sweat soaked shirt, and vein rippled legs.

"It's not you who I should be pissed at-" Eddie bore down, teeth grinding together as he pushed. "Parasite!" He cried, louder than expected, in a mighty exhale. He quickly recovered the oxygen which fuelled his wrath. Venom screeched as a string of tendrils shot across the room, being rejected by Eddie's body. As the contraction elapsed, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and the streamlines that'd dribbled down to his cheeks, stay with me, bud." Eddie wasn't sure if he could pull through without Venom's presence.

"I will not leave. We will pull through together."Venom knew what Eddie needed to hear right now, never usually lying, but it was better than letting Eddie worry.

Eddie pushed again and again, each time the bond to Venom becoming even more fragile. Anne kept him focused, egging him to continue through because, 'it'll all he okay in the end'. With the next few attempts came a fiery burning sensation; he could only compare his canal to the vent of a volcano. "I can see the head." Anne cheered, seeing a thin layer of brown hair hidden beneath bloody mucous. Regardless of Anne's encouraging words, spitting remarkable progress, Eddie felt as if he was stuck in

"Tired...so...tired." He panted. He'd lost count of how long he'd been pouring his energy into bringing his child into the word. "Can't do this anymore." He rested his forehead on the cool of the worktop. With Venom barely hanging on, Eddie felt so fatigued, like all his life forces were running at 2%.

"You can not give up."Venom needed Eddie to continue, but it was easier said than done. Without the healing and numbing effects that Venom passed along, Eddie was struggling to gather the strength he needed."Our son wants to be born."Venom couldn't offer any help, with all focus going to staying connected. Right now, Venom had a web spread across the area Eddie held, helping to grapple Eddie down, so he couldn't collapse.

"You don't have much of a choice, this kid is coming whether you like it or not." Anne put firmly.

"Okay-okay." Eddie went with what his body was tell him and pushed when the next contraction flooded his senses. He used all of his energy to ride through the next few contractions, crashing hard each time they ended. Through heavy breathing and whimpering he managed to muster up just enough energy for one final push.

"You can do it Eddie! One more big push, then I've got him." Anne held the majority of the baby in the palms of her hands, just waiting for Eddie to give that final oomph and the rest of the baby would enter the world. "He's so beautiful Eddie. Come on!"

"Eddie, It is done. We have done it – you have done it."Venom appreciated Eddie more and more with every waking moment. For he was the reason that the human race still stands, the reason why Venom had developed feelings and deeper thought, and now the reason why Venom was being blessed with a family.

Eddie let out the loudest, most blood curdling scream yet. It was the last drop of energy, the final smidgen of strength, and inch of stamina that he could possibly muster. It was just powerful enough to edge his baby into the world. In the final moment, Venom split, and their son fell into Anne's arms. Eddie's legs shook and twitched and he slumped to the floor, mouth dry and on the verge of tears.

Eddie half expected his child to break free with a mighty whale, but instead he was silent, just kicking and fidgeting like usual. "Oh, Eddie. He's amazing." Anne chocked, gazing down at the child. He was not at all what she'd expected. There were no extra appendages and his skin wasn't oddly coloured. In fact, he was perfect. "Ten fingers, ten toes." Placenta still attached; she brought the new-born over to see his father.

"Shit," All efforts to remain sober crumbled at the sight of his child. He shed tears of joy as the baby opened his eyes to look around at his new environment. He had beautiful green eyes, that already seemed curious. Eddie felt most of his energy restore as Venom weaved his way back into his body. "He's so small..." All indications predicted that he'd be born a strong lump of a child, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He fit comfortably in Eddie's two hands.

Venom took the opportunity to look down at the child in true visage, yet the infant was not scared or shocked by what he saw."Our son is marvellous."If it was possible for Venom's species to express common emotions, then the symbiote would also be weeping uncontrollably.

"I almost forgive you." Eddie chuckled wearily. Anne assisted Eddie to a comfortable position. Holding their child in his arms dispelled all negative energy from the horrific experience that was birth, and for it being Venom's fault. If Venom hadn't given him this burden, then he'd never have realised what was missing from his life – a family. He planted small kisses of appreciation on his son's forehead, never minding the yuckiness he was coated with.

"What did you finally come up with?" Anne prompted, blotting the baby's head and face with a towel.

Eddie paused, dabbling with how easily he'd reached his decision. "Now that he's here, there's no doubt, his name should be Noah."

"Thief." Anne laughed, "little Noah." She hummed, "Noah Brock."

"Noah? Noah is fitting for such an exceptional infant."Gone were the times when Venom would push his own agenda, attempting to persuade Eddie to name their child something closer to home. Seeing how human the child appeared, a human name was in everybody's best interests.

"I'm going to cut the cord and then we'll deliver the placenta."

"Ugh, more?" Eddie groaned. "No use fighting nature." He gave in. Anne cut the placenta with the scissors Dan left in a pack of instruments. After the spongey rope had been cut, Anne gently tugged on one end to stimulate the contractions needed to birth the blood bath.

"Noah is officially a fully fledged autonomous being." Anne announced upon separation of mother and child. "just don't drop the baby." She added before having Eddie push the amniotic sac and placenta out.

Eddie shuddered as it slithered out, "that was gross." He couldn't look at what remained splattered across the towels between his legs.

"Can we eat it, Eddie?"To Venom, neglecting to eat the placenta would be a massive waste of nutrients, that'd otherwise have to come from eating a live person – per Venom's rationale.

"It's a good thing you've got two daddies because one is a vomit educing parasite." Eddie cooed. Venom would have ordinarily gone berserk, but Eddie did just grow, carry, and birth him a son. So, this time was appropriate to let things slide. Noah was already falling asleep, his eyes slowly closing lazily. "Oh, cause you're tired?"

"It's not everyday that you're pushed through a vagina. I can imagine it's pretty traumatising." Anne felt as though she could relate. Even bearing witness and assisting the birth had her exhausted. Although, she definitely did not wish to be Eddie right now, all lifelessly limp, both physically and emotionally drained.


End file.
